NOV  19  1915 


BV   4211     .K47 

Kern,    John   A.     1846-1926. 

Vision   and    power 


VISION  AND  POWER 


VISION    AND    POWER 

A  STUDY  IN  THE  MINISTRY 
OF  PREACHING 


BY  \ 

JOHN  A.  KERN 

Author  of  "  The  Ministry  to  the  Congregation," 
*'  Christianity  as  Organized,"  etc. 


There  is  a  depth  below  the  depth, 
A  height  above  the  height. 

Our  hearing  is  not  hearing 
And  our  seeing  is  not  sight." 


NOV 


New  York  Chicago  Tohonto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1915,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  125  N.  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  St.,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:    100   Princes   Street 


(KTo 

my  students  in  Christian  Preaching 

now  scattered  abroad  in  their  own  land 

and  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth 

I  send 

with  grateful  memories  of  twenty-nine  years 

this  last  word 


"  Couldst  thou  in  vision  see 
The  man  God  meant  for  thee 
Thou  nevermore  shouldst  be 
The    man   thou   art,    content," 


PREFACE 

IF  I  might  begin  with  a  request,  I  would  ask  the 
reader  to  turn  from  this  page  to  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  chapters  of  The  Acts.  Not  that,  in  what 
is  to  follow,  these  two  chapters  of  the  New  Testament 
shall  be  made  the  text  of  a  series  of  expository  sermons. 
But  the  story  which  they  tell  and  re-tell  of  a  certain 
epoch-making  experience  in  the  life  of  the  first  Chris- 
tian preacher  will  be  taken  as  a  thread  of  guidance  and 
suggestion  for  a  study  in  Christian  preaching. 

Two  words  describe,  as  fairly  perhaps  as  any  other 
two  that  could  be  chosen,  the  men  who  achieve  notably 
great  results  in  the  manifold  work  of  the  world.  Such 
results  are  achieved  by  men  of  vision  and  of  power,  in 
some  true  sense  of  the  two  meaningful  words. 

To  the  minister  of  Christ  these  words  are  applicable 
in  the  highest  meaning  they  can  be  made  to  bear.  Be- 
cause to  him  vision  is  vision  of  spiritual  realities,  and 
power  is  the  power  of  God  himself  in  the  setting  up 
of  his  kingdom  in  the  world.  It  was  so  not  only  with 
such  chief  apostles  as  Peter  and  Paul,  but  with  all 
the  first  messengers  of  Jesus ;  and  it  is  equally  true  of 
his  messengers  to-day. 

This  vision  and  its  expression  in  Divine  power,  as 
an  equipment  for  the  ministry  of  preaching,  is  our 
theme. 

Any  readers  whom  I  may  hope  to  win  are  likely  to 

7 


8  PREFACE 

be  preachers  of  the  gospel  in  the  earlier  years  of  their 
ministry;  and  none  certainly  could  be  more  welcome. 
Such  as  these  have  already  made  me  their  debtor  by 
not  a  few  kind  and  appreciative  words,  and  I  want 
to  be  with  them  still  in  the  companionship  of  the 
spirit. 

But  none  of  us,  I  hope,  will  forget  that  the  whole 
enduement  of  God's  truth  and  grace  is  alike  for  all  his 
children — for  those  who  are  not  named  by  the  Church 
as  its  ministers  as  truly  as  for  those  who  are.  "  The 
gifts  and  calling  of  God  "  are  unto  a  universal  Chris- 
tian priesthood  and  ministry.  And  for  the  man  who 
stands  in  the  pulpit  there  is  nothing  better  than  to  be 
a  big  brother  to  his  fellows. 

J.  A.  K. 

Randolph-Macon  College. 


CONTENTS 


I.  The  Man 13 

1.  Easily  recognizable  and  most  human.  2.  An 
intellectual  trait — impulsive  speech.  3.  A  moral 
trait — responsiveness  to  a  leader.  4.  Faith  and 
faults.  5.  What  did  this  faith  in  Jesus  include? 
6.  A  common  man.     7.  The  opportunity  and  work. 

II.  The  Housetop 36 

1.  How  Simon  Peter  had  learned  to  pray.  2.  Where 
to  pray.  3.  The  Oriental  housetop  as  a  prayer 
room.  4.  Prayer  as  a  duty.  5.  Prayerless  activity. 
6.  Praver  a  response.  7.  "  Wherefore  didst  thou 
doubt?" 

ill.    The  Vision 54 

1.  To  sleep,  which  is  to  dream.  2.  \Miat  worth  has 
the  dreaming  mind?  3.  The  Divine  presence  in 
dreams.  4.  The  trance,  non-religious,  religious. 
5.  "  In  a  vision  "  and  "  mouth  to  mouth."  6.  The 
form  of  the  vision.  7.  The  historic  and  the  uni- 
versal. 8.  Conservatism  and  truth.  9.  Religious 
aristocracy  vs.  the  religion  of  Jesus. 

IV.  The  Interpbetation 79 

1.  "What  think  ye?"  2.  Simon  Peter  thought 
and  was  perplexed.  3.  Thinking  and  mysticism. 
4.  A  progressive  answer.  5.  Significance  of  the 
spoken  "  words  "  at  Csesarea.  6.  A  Gentile's  prayer 
is  answered.  7.  "  I  perceive  that  God  is  no  re- 
specter of  persons."     8.  The  universality  of  Jesus. 

V.  Visions  and  Vision 104 

1.  Eyesight,  ecstasy,  insight.  2.  What  are  our 
visions  ?  3.  Vision  is  insight  into  visions.  4.  What 
means  the  vision  of  childhood?  5.  Simon  Peter's 
vision  of  Jesus,  and  ours.  6.  Spiritual  vision  of 
one's  own  life.  7.  The  soul  perceiving  spiritual 
facts  and  values.  8.  The  soul  picturing  spiritual 
facts  and  values.  9.  Vision  the  faith  of  realiza- 
tion. 

9 


10  CONTENTS 

VI.  Vision  of  Natube 130 

1.  What  did  nature  mean  to  Jesus  ?  2.  The  witness 
of  little  and  great  in  nature.  3.  The  witness  of 
utility.  4.  The  witness  of  beauty.  5.  Nature's 
revelation  of  the  immanent  God.  6.  Mystery  and 
truth.  7.  Nature's  teaching  through  symbol  and 
proof. 

VII.  Vision  of  Man 152 

1.  How  we  know  ourselves  and  one  another.  2. 
What  is  it  that  makes  man  man?  3.  Oneself  in 
the  light  of  Christ.  4.  "The  light  that  lighteth 
every  man."  5.  The  fulfilment  of  the  hunger  for 
the  Divine.  6.  Sharing  the  vision  of  the  Lord  of 
Love.  7.  What  are  the  human  possibilities?  8. 
The  universalism  of  knowledge,  civilization,  Chris- 
tianity. 

VIII.  Vision  of  Jesus 174 

1.  What  is  it  to  know  Jesus?  2.  Testimony  of 
Jesus'  witnesses,  spoken,  written.  3.  Such  a  per- 
sonality must  be  historic — hence  Divine.  4.  The 
Church's  answer  to  the  seeker  of  spiritual  truth. 
6.  Vision  in  Jesus  of  our  everyday  life.  6.  Vision 
in  Jesus  of  our  moral  relation  to  God.  7.  Na- 
ture's predictive  symbols  of  the  Cross. 

IX.  The  Opportunity 194 

1.  Providence     in    the    opportunities    of    service. 

2.  Opportunity  alike  in  life  and  death.  3.  Divine 
opportunity  through  human  service.  4.  The  preach- 
er's wide-open  door.     5.  "  Many  adversaries." 

X.  Enlabgement  of  Opportunity 212 

1.  "I  may,  therefore  I  will."  2.  Peter's  world- 
wide opportunity  and  ours.  8.  America  and  human 
brotherhood.     4.  The  peoples  and  the  individual. 

XI.  Power  through  Evangelic  Truth 227 

1.  Truth  as  facts  and  their  meaning.  2.  Jesus  the 
Evangelic  Truth.  3.  The  imiversal  hunger  for 
knowledge.  4.  The  universal  antagonist  of  evan- 
gelic truth.  5.  The  distinctive  motive  power  of  the 
gospel.  6.  Truth  as  personalized  in  Jesus.  7.  The 
highest  truth  creative  of  the  highest  life. 

XII.  Power  through  the  Personality  of  the  Preacher    250 

1.  The  personality  of  the  first  Christian  preacher. 

2.  The  preeminent  power  of  personality,     3.  The 


CONTENTS  11 

mediating  personality  of  Jesus  and  his  witnesses. 
4.  The  Church  founded  on  truth  embodied  in  per- 
sonality.     5.  Personality    and    personal    presence. 

6.  "  In  pretence  or  in  truth."  7.  A  special  reason 
for  great  personalities  in  the  pulpit.  8.  Personality 
transfigured  and  unconscious. 

XIII.  PowEB  OF  THE  Indwelunq  Spibit 278 

1.  The  Spirit  with  and  without  the  gospel.  2. 
Divine  personal  power  in  nature  and  in  grace. 
3.  The  Spirit  and  the  free  will.  4.  Jesus  as  re- 
vealed by  the  Spirit.  5.  The  gospel  preached  by  the 
Spirit.     6.  The  way  of  the   Spirit  in   the   truth. 

7.  The  way  of  the  Spirit  in  personality.  8.  The 
mystery  of  the  Spirit's  speech.  9.  The  Spirit  and 
the  revival  of  religion. 

XIV.  Effects  of  Power 301 

1.  The  soul  in  the  face.  2.  The  inner  spiritual 
effects.  3.  The  mark  of  universality  in  Christian 
experience  and  character.  4.  Perfection  a  gradual 
growth.  5.  The  new  birth  a  reconstruction  of  the 
soul.  6.  Spiritual  discipline  and  healing.  7.  The 
fruits  of  the  Spirit  bear  witness.  8.  Effects  in  the 
individual,   the  church,  the  community. 

XV.  Certain  Sigi.s  of  Power 324 

1.  "He  will  fall  down  on  his  face  and  worship 
God."  2.  The  witness  of  psychology.  3.  Interpre- 
tation and  misinterpretation  of  signs.  4.  Use  and 
misuse  of  social  excitement.  5.  A  transfiguration 
and  its  value.  6.  The  danger  of  resting  in  a  past 
experience.  7.  The  danger  of  disheartening  the 
true-hearted.    8.  The  new  birth  in  childhood. 

XVI.  The  Way  of  Power 355 

1.  Spiritual  power  not  through  imitation  or  oflSee. 

2.  The    way    of    vision    and    of    power    the    same. 

3.  Prayer  as  a  condition  of  power.  4.  Obedience 
as  a  condition  of  power.  5.  The  kingdom  of  free- 
dom and  of  law.    6.  The  everyday  walk  in  the  light. 

XVII.  The   Confession 379 

1.  Why  a  form  of  baptism  in  the  religion  of  the 
Spirit?  2.  Personal  benefits  from  the  confession  of 
Christ.  3.  Not  chiefly  self-regarding.  4.  The  con- 
fessing Church.    5.  A  bearer  of  light  and  power. 


THE  MAN 

Now  there  was  a  certain  man  in  Csesarea,  Cornelius 
by  name,  a  centurion  of  the  band  called  the  Italian 
band,  a  devout  man  and  one  that  feared  God  with  all 
his  house,  who  gave  much  alms  to  the  people  and 
prayed  to  God  always.  He  saw  in  a  vision  openly,  as 
it  were  about  the  ninth  hour  of  the  day,  an  angel  of 
God  coming  in  unto  him  and  saying  to  him,  Cornelius, 
And  he,  fastening  his  eyes  upon  him  and  being 
affrighted,  said.  What  is  it,  Lord?  And  he  said  unto 
him.  Thy  prayers  and  thine  alms  are  gone  up  for  a 
memorial  before  God.  And  now  send  men  to  Joppa 
and  fetch  one  Simon  who  is  surnamed  Peter.  He 
lodgeth  with  one  Simon  a  tanner,  whose  house  is  by 
the  seaside. — ^Acts  10:  1-6. 

AN  invitation  to  preach  may  be  the  opening  of  a 
/\  door  to  some  infinite  good.  Always,  even  as  an 
everyday  occurrence,  it  is  an  honour  and  an  op- 
portunity. But  here  is  an  extraordinary  instance. 
About  the  year  41  a.d.  a  Koman  centurion  at  the  mili- 
tary headquarters  of  Judea  is  divinely  directed  to  send 
men  on  a  two  days'  journey  for  a  man  to  show  him  and 
his  household  the  way  of  salvation  in  Christ. 

What  manner  of  man,  in  spirit  and  speech,  is  the 
preacher  thus  sent  for  ?  Do  not  say  that  it  makes  no 
difference — that  the  personality  of  the  preacher  matters 
nothing,  just  so  he  bring  a  true  message.  It  does  matter 
greatly.  The  messenger's  words  may  or  may  not  be  a 
fitting  vehicle  of  that  inner  Word  which  he  must  deliver. 
His  spirit  also  may  be  no  help  but  a  hindrance ;  or,  on  the 

13 


14  VISION  AND  POWER 

contrary,  it  may  be  exceeding  serviceful  in  making  a 
way  for  his  message. 

When,  therefore,  it  is  asked  who  this  chosen  preacher 
was,  it  may  be  answered,  No  more  signally  honoured 
name  than  his  in  human  history.  For  not  only  was  he 
one  of  those  whom  Jesus  chose  out  of  the  whole  number 
of  the  disciples  that  they  might  be  in  constant  compan- 
ionship with  himself,  and  be  sent  forth  in  due  time  to 
preach  the  Good  News  of  God,  but  he  was  recognized 
as  the  very  foremost  of  these  apostles.  When  they  are 
all  mentioned  together  in  the  Gospels,  is  he  not  always 
the  first  mentioned  ?  And  the  same  is  true  when  three 
of  them  are  spoken  of  as  taken  apart  from  the  rest  for 
some  special  nearness  to  their  Lord.  "  And  he  taketh 
with  him  Peter  and  James  and  John  " — it  was  so  in 
the  room  where  the  ruler's  little  daughter  was  lying 
asleep  in  death,  and  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration, 
and  in  Gethsemane. 

Also,  he  was  the  first  of  the  Eleven  to  whom  the  risen 
Lord  was  made  known — "  The  Lord  is  risen  indeed,  and 
hath  appeared  to  Simon  " — and  the  announcer  to  the 
multitude  at  Pentecost,  "  devout  men  from  every  nation 
under  heaven,"  that  this  risen  Jesus  was  the  Saviour 
Christ. 

We  recall,  moreover,  that  it  was  by  Jesus  himself 
that  this  Simon  was  surnamed  Cephas — which,  being 
interpreted,  is  Peter,  or  Rock — and  thus  incited,  we 
may  believe,  to  aspire  after  what  it  lay  in  his  power, 
through  discipleship  with  the  Master,  to  become.  And 
it  was  to  him,  standing  up  first  of  all  men  distinctly  to 
confess  his  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  Christ,  that  the  great 


THE  MAN  15 

word  was  spoken,  "  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-Jonah  " 
— the  only  recorded  beatitude  the  Master  ever  pro- 
nounced upon  an  individual — "  for  flesh  and  blood  hath 
not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  who  is  in 
heaven."  And  then  ?  "  And  I  also  say  unto  thee,  that 
thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  Kock  I  will  build  my 
Church." 

As  faithful  Abraham  was  called  the  father  of  all  them 
that  should  afterward  believe  with  a  heart  unto  right- 
eousness in  the  God  of  Israel  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  so  was 
Simon  Peter  called  the  first  foundation  rock  of  all  them 
that  should  afterward  be  built  as  confessing  disciples 
into  the  vast  and  invincible  Congregation  of  Christian 
believers. 

This  was  the  man  sent  for  by  the  devout  centurion,  a 
representative  of  the  nations'  call  for  the  gospel  of  the 
Incarnation  and  the  Cross. 

Surely  not  in  the  whole  elect  brotherhood  of  men  who 
had  worn  the  prophet's  mantle,  nor  in  the  long  line  of 
those  upon  whose  heads  had  rested  the  crown  of  the 
house  of  David,  nor  in  the  Hall  of  Fame  of  any  age  or 
nation,  has  there  been  a  personality  or  a  career  signal- 
ized by  a  more  memorable  distinction  than  was  that  of 
this  fisherman  of  Capernaum. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  would  not  be  easy  to  quote  a 
more  terrible  word  of  rebuke  than  this  same  foremost 
confessing  disciple  suffered  at  the  lips  of  his  Lord.  It 
was  such  a  word  as  had  smitten  the  evil  one  himself  on 
the  Mount  of  Temptation :  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan ; 
for  thou  mindest  not  the  things  of  God  but  the  things 
of  men." 


16  VISION  AND  POWER 


Yet  there  is  nothing  awesome  in  our  thought  of  this 
man.  We  should  not  have  dreaded  to  meet  with  him, 
either  alone  or  in  company.  He  shows  no  kinship  to 
those  characters  that  constrain  one  to  admire  them  at  a 
distance  but  forbid  familiar  approach.  'Nor  do  we  think 
of  him  as  intellectually  a  genius,  or  educationally  more 
than  what  the  rabbinical  schools  of  his  day  would  have 
called  an  "  unlearned  and  ignorant  man,"  or  morally 
an  incomparable  hero,  or  spiritually,  except  in  the 
sense  in  which  the  New  Testament  applies  the  title  to 
all  Christians,  a  saint;  but  rather  as  a  man  of  a 
certain  large  and  lovable  humanness,  honest,  self- 
confident,  quick  to  receive  impressions,  sure  to  attract 
attention  and  to  awake  something  of  sympathetic  inter- 
est, heartily  religious  withal,  and  of  like  infirmities  with 
ourselves. 

In  Joppa  the  men  who  are  to  come  for  him  from 
Cornelius  will  find  him  lodging  in  the  house  of  a  tan- 
ner by  the  seaside,  and  they  will  have  to  use  no  pep- 
suasion  to  induce  him  to  go  with  them  to  Csesarea.  He 
will  take  six  brethren  along  with  him.  In  Csesarea 
he  will  not  consent  that  Cornelius  shall  fall  down  at 
his  feet  as  before  a  superior  being — "  Stand  up,  I  my- 
self also  am  a  man."  No  doubt  he  was  likely  in  any 
company  to  be  in  spirit  as  in  fact  a  fellow-man — an  "  I- 
myself-also."  So,  later,  writing  to  the  Christian  elders 
of  the  Dispersion,  he  says,  "  I  exhort,  who  am  " — ^the 
foremost  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  ?    IsTo ;  "  I  exhort,  who 


THE  MAN  17 

am  a  fellow-elder."  *  Temperamentally  he  would  fall 
into  a  class  with  the  faulty  and  volcanic,  yet  masterful, 
leader  of  the  German  Keformation,  of  whom  his  latest 
biographer  speaks  as  "  one  of  the  most  human  of  the 
world's  great  men." 

It  is  a  point  upon  which  one  may  speak  confidently, 
because  the  Book  in  which  his  memoirs  appear  shows 
all  its  historical  characters,  not  with  colourless,  washed- 
out  faces,  but  as  they  actually  were;  and  of  them  all 
Simon  Peter  is  the  best  known.  And  this  not  simply 
because  of  the  comparative  fulness  with  which  his 
sayings  and  doings  are  reported,  but  also  because  of 
his  native  transparency  of  mind  and  speech — the  ab- 
sence of  the  least  shadow  of  reserve  or  suggestion  of 
second  thought. 

Furthermore,  wherever  he  appears  upon  the  scene, 
in  the  Gospels,  in  The  Acts,  or  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  his  conduct,  be  it  much  or  little — one  might 
add,  be  it  in  waking  life  or  in  trance — is  unfailingly 
characteristic.  Simon  Peter  is  always  recognizable, 
because  always  frankly  and  conspicuously  himself — an 
incidental  proof  of  the  truth  of  the  evangelic  narra- 
tives. 

"  Thy  speech  bewrayeth  thee."  Thus  did  they  make 
answer,  in  the  court  of  the  high  priest's  house,  to 
Peter's  denial  of  discipleship  with  Jesus — •"  Of  a  truth 
thou  also  art  one  of  them,  for  thy  speech  bewrayeth 
thee."  And  in  fact  his  speech,  in  a  much  more  indi- 
vidualizing sense  than  that  of  his  broad  Galilean  pro- 
nunciation, was  always  bewraying  him.    If  ever  a  man 

*  Peter  5:  1. 


18  VISION  AND  POWER 

habitually  spoke  with  a  tell-tale  tongue,  unconsciously 
disclosing  the  tone  and  temper  of  his  mind,  here  was 
such  a  man.  Whatever  he  uttered,  at  any  time  or  any- 
where, showed  manifestly  the  manner  of  man  he  was. 
It  has  been  said  that  "  each  spirit  has  its  own  voice." 
Beyond  a  question  this  spirit  had.  No  shadowy  or 
ghostlike  figure  flitting  across  the  stage  of  human 
history  was  Simon  Peter,  but  a  red-blooded  and  out- 
spoken man,  self-depicted,  self-confessed. 

II 

Now  it  is  upon  two  personal  traits  of  this  very  know- 
able  disciple  of  Jesus  that  I  would  lay  a  bit  of  em- 
phasis at  this  time.  One  is  an  intellectual  and  the 
other  a  moral  trait. 

The  intellectual  trait  is  the  impulse  of  utterance. 
This,  indeed,  is  a  universal  human  endowment.  Other- 
wise speech  would  not  be  a  universal  human  achieve- 
ment. Self-expression,  which  is  almost  always  for  the 
sake  of  self-communication,  is  an  instinct  of  the  soul. 
It  may  be  unmistakably  seen  in  the  two-year-old  child, 
who  without  it  would  never  learn  to  talk.  Through 
this  impulse,  then,  giving  rise  to  that  mystery  of  out- 
going power,  the  living  word,  soul  comes  into  contact 
with  soul. 

But  the  difference  between  individuals  with  respect 
to  this  constitutional  impulse  is  very  marked.  There 
are  sons  of  silence.  They  have  little  or  nothing,  in 
any  ordinary  circumstances,  to  say.  Nor  is  it  neces- 
sarily because  of  lack  of  ideas  or  of  suitable  language 
in  which  to  express  them,  or  because  of  a  conviction 


THE  MAN  19 

that  "  in  the  multitude  of  words  there  wanteth  not 
transgression,"  but  simply  because  of  there  being  no 
strong  propensity  of  speech. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  those  whose  thinking 
itself  seems  informed  with  a  spirit  of  communicative- 
ness. They  think  aloud.  Their  very  ideas  are  an 
articulate  effusion.  In  society  they  are  ever  conversers 
— unless,  indeed,  as  is  not  infrequently  the  case,  they 
become  monologists.  In  parliamentary  bodies  they 
must  practise  restraint  to  keep  off  their  feet.  In  reli- 
gious meetings  their  counsel,  or  testimony,  or  exhorta- 
tion may  always  be  expected.  Any  perfect  portrait 
of  them  would  have  parted  lips. 

And  this  was  the  temperament  of  Simon  Peter.  Ever 
ready  to  speak  his  mind,  he  spoke  at  times  when  "  he 
wist  not  what  to  say."  Whatever  the  thought  or  feel- 
ing of  the  moment,  it  tends  to  utterance.  At  once  it 
becomes  a  word  or  some  other  kind  of  act.  Why  pause 
to  cite  instances?  Familiar  to  every  reader  of  the 
ITew  Testament  are  such  expressions  as  "  Peter  said," 
"  Peter  answered  Him,"  "  Peter  answered  Him  and 
said,"  "  Peter  began  to  say  unto  Him,"  "  Peter  stood 
up  in  the  midst  of  the  brethren  and  said."  "  The  mouth 
of  the  Apostles,"  Chrysostom  called  him.  For  he  soon 
became  spokesman  of  the  Twelve ;  and  we  may  be  sure 
not  through  election  by  them,  or  through  his  own  seek- 
ing, but  simply  through  the  spirit  of  speech  that  pos- 
sessed him.  At  Csesarea  he  entered  the  house  where 
he  was  to  preach,  talking  to  the  Roman  officer  who  had 
sent  for  him — "  and  as  he  talked  with  him,  he  went  in." 

It  is  an  excellent  spirit — if  united  with  the  rare 


20  VISION  AND  POWER 

grace  of  good  listening,  a  most  excellent  spirit.  Reti- 
cence and  reserve  are  no  doubt  called  for  at  times  in 
the  conduct  of  life,  but  it  is  far  from  desirable  that 
they  should  dominate  one's  everyday  speech.  Let  a 
man  be  sure  to  live  in  truth  and  love,  and  then  let 
him  speak  out,  with  no  such  picking  of  words  as  would 
suggest  the  habitual  fear  lest  he  say  something  that 
might  be  used  against  him. 

To  be  silent  in  the  presence  of  that  which  is  too 
sublime  and  awe-inspiring  for  speech,  to  keep  back  and 
inwardly  renounce  the  unkind  or  boastful  or  captious 
remark,  to  say  nothing  under  provocation  to  make  the 
angry  and  bitter  retort,  to  refrain  from  idle  or  irrele- 
vant words — ^that,  it  may  be  cheerfully  granted,  is  to 
be  a  kingly  man.  "  He  that  refraineth  his  lips  is  wise." 
But  even  such  silence  is  at  best  masterly  inactivity, 
while  speech,  on  the  contrary,  is  action.  The  word  is 
a  positive  and  aggressive  power.  To  know  how  to  be 
silent  is  well,  but  to  have  the  truth  both  strongly  borne 
in  upon  the  soul  and  as  strongly  borne  out  in  spon- 
taneous speech  means  far  more  for  the  personal 
eifectiveness  of  one's  life.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
it  is  one  of  the  good  gifts  to  be  cherished  by  the  Chris- 
tian preacher.  Paul  gave  thanks  for  the  Corinthians 
that  among  other  charisms  they  had  that  of  "  utter- 
ance." 

For  the  effective  use  of  this  gift  of  ready  speech, 
however,  whether  in  public  or  in  private,  the  guidance 
and  control  of  the  thought  must  be  as  quick  as  that 
of  the  vocal  organs.  Nor  is  this  impossible;  though 
thought  is  quicker  of  movement  than  even  the  swiftest 


THE  MAN  21 

spoken  word.  And  here  Peter  was  at  fault.  'Not  lo- 
quacious, yet  under  excitement  he  was  prone  to  speak 
rashly  or  with  misplaced  curiosity.  "  Lord,  if  it  be 
thou,  bid  me  come  to  thee  upon  the  waters ;  "  "  Let 
us  build  three  tabernacles ;"  "  Thou  shalt  never  wash  my 
feet ;"  "  If  all  shall  be  offended  in  thee,  I  will  never 
be  offended;"  "  Lord,  and  what  shall  this  man  do?  " — 
these  and  the  like  were  inconsiderate  and  inopportune 
utterances. 

Nevertheless,  the  temperament  out  of  which  such 
expressions  are  apt  to  arise  is  not  to  be  regarded  by 
the  speaker  as  in  itself  a  hindrance,  but  rather  as  a 
help.  It  is  an  element  of  power  in  speech.  "  I  have 
often  had  occasion  to  observe,"  says  Richard  Cecil, 
"  that  a  warm  blundering  man  does  more  for  the 
world  than  a  frigid  wise  man."  Somewhat  as  one 
would  rather  have  a  friend  who,  though  at  times  ill- 
tempered,  really  loved  him,  than  to  be  treated  with  uni- 
form loveless  propriety,  so  the  heart  of  a  hearer  will 
be  more  affected  by  the  spontaneous  and  impulsive 
(speaker,  though  the  speech  may  be  enfeebled  at  times 
by  temperamental  faults,  than  by  the  speaker  who  is 
free  from  such  faults  through  lack  of  the  ardent  im- 
pulsive temperament  which  would  render  him  liable 
to  them.  Spontaneity  is  at  once  the  speaker's  thrust- 
power  and  his  snare. 

in 

The  moral  trait  to  be  noted  in  Simon  Peter  is  that 
of  responsiveness  to  a  cause  and  a  leader.  Let  us  re- 
member the  momentous  time  in  which  this  man  was 


n  VISION  AND  POWER 

called  upon  to  make  his  life-choice  and  fulfil  his  course. 
It  was  the  day  of  all  days  that  had  ever  been  given 
to  Israel  or  to  mankind.  Spiritually  sensitive  spirits 
seem  to  have  felt  that  some  great  Divine  movement  had 
begun,  whose  depth  and  fulness  of  meaning,  however, 
they  knew  not.  Prophets  were  heard  to  speak  again — 
a  Simeon,  an  Anna,  a  John  the  son  of  Zacharias.  What 
could  it  all  mean  ? 

When  John  came  forth  to  herald  the  new  age,  his 
announcement  was.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand. 
But  when  Jesus  of  N'azareth  appeared,  as  the  fulfilment 
of  that  prophetic  word,  it  was  not  in  the  glory  of  the 
Christ  who  was  expected.  He  called  for  followers 
whom  he  might  make  his  message-bearers,  but  foretold 
the  suffering  and  danger  that  would  meet  them  in  the 
way.  He  promised  them  no  earthly  good,  but  quite 
the  contrary.  Their  one  aim  must  be  the  reign  of 
righteousness,  the  supremacy  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
in  their  own  and  all  other  lives — "  as  in  heaven,  so 
on  earth."  And  the  law  of  personal  allegiance  which 
he  laid  upon  them  was  absolute:  they  are  to  follow 
him,  their  Leader  and  Lord,  though  the  path  of  advance 
be  like  that  of  the  condemned  man  bearing  his  cross 
to  a  Golgotha. 

Now,  when  among  any  people  the  voice  of  the  mas- 
terful man  of  the  hour  is  heard  proclaiming  some  great 
and  worthy  cause  and  calling  for  followers,  men  are 
judged,  and  separated  to  the  right  hand  and  the  left. 
The  timid  and  selfish  stand  off,  indifferent,  irresponsive, 
afraid.  But  the  nobler  spirits,  the  men  of  ideality  and 
vision,  are  thrilled  with  the  high  impersonal  idea  of 


THE  MAN  23 

a  cause  and  with  the  personal  appeal  of  the  leader  in 
whom  it  has  found  embodiment.  They  want  to  be 
bidden  and  to  obey.  It  is  their  glory  to  serve.  It  is 
their  most  uplifting  hope  to  see  the  triumph  of  the 
cause  and  its  leader. 

Evidently  it  was  to  this  latter  class  that  Simon  Peter 
belonged.  Probably  he  had  been  a  disciple  of  John; 
certainly  he  soon  became  an  eager  and  outright  dis- 
ciple of  Jesus. 

First,  by  the  Jordan  in  Judea,  he  went  and  made 
acquaintance  with  the  new  Master.  For  when  his  own 
brother  Andrew  came  to  him,  after  having  first  spent 
an  evening  in  the  company  of  Jesus,  and  said,  "  We 
have  found  the  Messiah,"  Simon  suffered  himself  to 
be  brought  to  Jesus. 

Shortly  afterward,  by  the  lakeside  in  Galilee,  hear- 
ing this  same  Master's  gentle  yet  authoritative  "  Fol- 
low me  "  (which  involved  an  itinerant  life) ,  he  at  once 
obeyed  the  call.  It  was  well  to  be  catching  fish  out  of 
the  lake ;  it  was  better,  he  thought,  dropping  the  imple- 
ments of  his  craft,  to  become  a  fisher  of  men.  It  was 
well  to  live  uninterruptedly  in  his  own  house  and  fam- 
ily circle  at  Capernaum;  it  was  better  to  suffer  pro- 
tracted absence  from  home,  if  need  be,  for  the  king- 
dom of  heaven's  sake.  Here,  then,  is  a  plain,  impetuous 
fisherman  who  can  respond  to  the  touch  of  a  higher  life 
upon  his  spirit  and  does  not  have  to  school  his  lips 
painfully  to  say  either  "  I  seek  "  or  "  I  serve."  Here 
is  a  man  who  promises  to  illustrate  in  conduct  the 
significance  of  both  his  names,  that  given  by  his  parents 
and  that  given  by  his  Lord — Simon,  a  hearer,  Peter,  a 


24>  VISION  AND  POWER 

rock.  And  throughout  his  subsequent  course  of  both 
discipleship  and  apostleship,  this  same  impulse  of  loyal 
love  is  shown.  The  Gospels  leave  us  in  no  doubt  that 
here  v^as  a  disciple  who  loved  the  Master — that  Peter 
was  a  lover  of  Jesus,  with  a  fervent,  glad,  adoring 
affection. 

IV 

ISTot  that  the  record  is  wholly  clean  and  clear.  Would 
that  it  were.  But  even  through  the  gravest  faults  of 
this  impetuous  friend  and  follower  of  Jesus — the  head- 
iness  of  the  "  hearer,"  the  shaking  of  the  "  rock  " — 
which  have  been  so  much  commented  on,  there  shines 
at  least  a  fragmentary  and  disordered  image  of  fidelity. 
When,  for  instance,  he  presumed  to  rebuke  his  Lord 
for  declaring  that  the  Son  of  Man  would  be  rejected 
and  put  to  death  by  crucifixion,  it  was  because  he  could 
gee  nothing  in  the  predicted  cross  but  cruelty,  calamity, 
and  failure;  when,  at  the  imminent  risk  of  his  life, 
he  smote  a  servant  of  the  high  priest  with  the  sword, 
the  motive,  it  may  be  believed,  was  the  same ;  and  we 
may  even  remember  that  when,  just  from  the  Upper 
Room,  the  Last  Supper,  and  the  scenes  of  Gethsemane, 
he  fell  into  open-eyed  and  awful  apostasy,  it  was  in 
the  court  of  the  house  whither  he  had  gone,  unlike  most 
of  the  disciples,  to  be  near  his  Lord  at  the  perilous 
mock  trial.  Yes,  even  as  the  Master  said  of  him, 
the  spirit  was  truly  willing,  but  the  flesh  weak. 

Let  it  be  granted,  therefore,  that  what  we  find  in 
this  "  brave  and  weather-battered  Simon  Peter  "  is  an 
obvious  commingling  of  strength  and  weakness,  and  not 


THE  MAN  25 

an  approximation  to  ideal  character,  !N^evertlieless,  we 
find  a  man  of  faith;  and  to  him  who  believes,  hope, 
and  love,  and  all  things  are  possible. 

For  let  us  consider,  What  is  faith  ?  Such  a  word  has, 
of  course,  too  great  a  fulness  and  variety  of  meaning 
to  be  compassed  by  any  single  definition  or  descrip- 
tion. But  we  might  make  the  question  more  specific 
and  ask,  What  is  the  very  heart  and  essence  of  a  Chris- 
tian's faith  in  God  ?  It  is  not  belief  of  any  one  or 
more  theological  propositions;  nor  is  it  belief  in  the 
Divine  revelation  as  recorded  in  Scripture;  nor  yet  is 
it  a  persuasion  that  God  hears  some  petition  that  I 
am  offering  and  does  now  give  the  desired  answer. 
Christian  faith,  in  its  most  vital  action,  is  opening 
the  heart  to  the  redeeming  God,  who  waits  ever  to 
come  in  and  take  possession  of  his  own. 

It  is  illustrated  in  certain  familiar  human  relations. 
Let  some  chosen  teacher  enter  your  life,  with  his  spir- 
itual and  luminous  mind,  his  wealth  of  knowledge,  his 
patience  and  firmness  and  cheerfulness;  yield  yourself 
to  his  influence.  The  effect  will  be  to  reproduce  his 
mind  more  or  less  in  yours.  Do  you  assimilate  his 
teaching?  Therewith  you  assimilate  him.  Or,  let 
some  magnetic  politician  so  command  your  admiration 
that  you  accept  his  ruling  ideas  and  his  ambition  as 
your  own,  and  are  ready  to  make  effort  and  sacrifice 
to  help  exalt  him  to  the  seats  of  power.  He  is  con- 
forming you  somewhat  to  the  image  of  his  own  mind 
and  character.  Or,  unlock  the  door  of  your  heart 
to  a  friend,  and  let  love  do  its  perfect  work  within 
— you  are  coming  under  the  personal  power  of  your 


26  VISION  AND  POWER 

friend  and  being  changed  unto  his  likeness.  All  this 
is  faith,  natural,  instinctive  faith,  and  its  effects.  Its 
pulse-beat,  faint  or  strong,  is  felt  in  every  human  soul. 
Some  of  its  loveliest  forms  appear  in  childhood,  which 
is  Jesus'  chosen  type  of  the  believing,  or  divinely  re- 
ceptive, life. 

For  the  lower  faith  is  a  parable  of  the  higher;  the 
child's  faith,  the  pupil's,  the  citizen's,  the  friend's,  a 
parable  of  the  Christian's.  In  fact,  more  than  a  para- 
ble or  analogue,  the  lower  faith  is  a  preparation  for 
the  higher.  Receiving  our  brother  whom  we  have 
seen  may  open  the  way  for  receiving  our  Divine  brother 
whom  we  have  not  seen.  For  the  Most  High  has  verily 
drawn  near,  as  Friend  and  Saviour,  seeking  to  com- 
mune with  us  all  in  the  life  of  Jesus.  He  is  ever 
drawing  near  and  speaking  to  us  in  Jesus,  whom  he 
has  made  both  Lord  and  Christ,  and  whose  word  is: 
"  If  any  man  hear  my  voice  and  open  the  door,  I  will 
come  in  to  him."  Therefore,  to  unlock  the  door  of 
the  heart  to  Christ,  with  his  strong  and  loving  master- 
ship, is  to  have  faith  in  God;  and  the  result  is  that 
we  enter  into  communion  with  him  and  are  in  the  way 
of  becoming  like  him.  "  Yea,  and  our  fellowship  is 
with  the  Father  and  with  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ."  Thus 
are  we  mortals  made  immortal  partakers  of  the  Divine 
life — "  and  will  sup  with  him  and  he  with  me." 


But  let  us  look  a  little  more  closely  at  this  faith  of 
Simon  Peter,  as  shown  by  his  responsiveness  to  the 
appeal  of  Jesus.    Was  it  simply  such  open-hearted  con- 


THE  MAN  27 

fidence  as  might  have  been  shown  toward  a  wise  and 
winning  teacher,  or  a  trumpet-tongued  reformer,  or  any 
great  and  good  man — say,  toward  one  of  the  prophets 
or  that  more-than-a-prophet,  John  the  Baptist  ?  No,  it 
was  not  just  the  same.  It  was  the  faith  of  trust  in 
One  of  whom  John  could  say,  "  He  shall  baptize  you 
with  the  Holy  Spirit." 

Doubtless  Simon  Peter  and  the  other  disciples  had 
the  impression  from  the  first  that  this  must  be  the 
Christ.  Ere  long  he  became  sure  of  it — knowing  as 
yet,  however,  very  little  of  what  the  name  implied. 
And  when  Jesus  would  make  it  known  to  him,  he  rashly 
resisted  the  interpretative  word.  But  he  did  not  turn 
back.  This  was  the  point  of  distinction — he  kept 
following 

"  on  eager  feet. 
On  feet  untired,  and  still  on  feet  though  tired." 

When  other  disciples  turned  back,  and  Jesus  asked  of 
the  Twelve,  "  Will  ye  also  go  away  ?  "  this  disciple's 
answer  was  prompt  and  undisguised :  "  Lord,  to  whom 
shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life,  and 
we  have  believed  and  know  that  thou  art  the  Holy  One 
of  God."  Sincerely  believing  in  the  Master,  even  when 
he  least  understood  him,  he  never  really  withdrew  from 
him  the  tribute  of  a  confident  and  loving  heart. 

Was  his  faith,  then,  at  this  time,  altogether  such 
as  that  of  spiritually  minded  Christians  of  the  present 
day?  Not  so.  Whatever  its  intensity,  it  was  far  less 
than  theirs  has  become  as  to  its  content.  Because, 
as  already  suggested,  it  failed  to  include  the  truth 
of  the  Christ's  atoning  love.     But  it  did  not  remain 


28  VISION  AND  POWER 

thus  limited.  Under  the  Divine  discipline  and  teach- 
ing, it  grew  unto  the  full  measure  of  a  Christian's 
faith  in  the  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

Some  have  suggested  that,  as  to  distinctive  spiritual 
temperament  and  attainment,  Peter  was  the  apostle  of 
hope.*  This  as  compared  with  his  two  great  brothers, 
Paul  the  apostle  of  faith  and  John  the  apostle  of  love. 
But  if  this  be  so,  let  it  also  be  remembered  that  the 
apostle  of  faith  has  said  that  "  by  hope  were  we  saved," 
and  the  apostle  of  love,  that  he  who  has  his  hope  set 
on  the  Christ  to  be  revealed  in  glory  "  purifieth  himself 
even  as  He  is  pure."  Good  reason,  indeed,  have  we 
to  thank  God  for  the  buoyant  and  heartsome  Chris- 
tian soul,  hoping  unto  the  end  in  the  way  of  Christ. 
Hopefulness  is  sunshine  and  health.  Welcome  the 
touch  of  the  sanguine  Cephas  upon  your  life.  But 
"  whether  Paul  or  Apollos  or  Cephas  ...  all  are 
yours." 

VI 

'Note  also  that,  among  the  original  Apostles,  Simon 
Peter  appears  distinctively  as  a  preacher.  In  fact,  he 
is  the  only  one  of  the  Eleven  of  whose  preaching  we 
have  any  record. 

And  now  it  is  certain  memorable  experiences  in 
the  life  of  this  first  Christian  preacher  that  have  sug- 
gested our  subject  in  these  chapters.  I  mean  his 
experience  of  spiritual  vision  and  of  its  accompanying 
power,  in  Joppa  and  Csesarea. 

'Nor  was  this  the  first  time  that  Peter  had  such  a 
personal   experience.      He  had   known    it   in   himself 

*I  Peter  1:3,  13,  21;  3:15. 


THE  MAN  29 

and  had  seen  it  in  others  at  Pentecost.  On  that  birth- 
day of  the  Church  of  Christ,  he  declared  to  his  multi- 
tudinous audience  that  the  extraordinary  signs  which 
they  saw  and  heard  were  in  fulfilment  of  a  prophecy 
of  the  Old  Testament: 

"  And  it  shall  be  in  the  last  days,  saith  God, 
I  will  pour  forth  of  my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh; 
And  your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall  prophesy, 
And  your  young  men  shall  see  visions, 
And  your  old  men  shall  dream  dreams: 

Yea,  and  on  my  servants  and  on  my  handmaidens  in  those  days 
Will  I  pour  forth  of  my  Spirit;  and  they  shall  prophesy." 

What  is  this?  They  should  see  visions  and  should 
prophesy.  Spiritual  perception  and  inspired  speech, 
flash  of  insight  and  stroke  of  appeal,  light  and  utter- 
ance, vision  and  power,  both  of  them  gifts  of  the  Spirit, 
both  of  them  common  gifts  for  all  classes  and  capaci- 
ties— such  was  the  ancient  prophetic  and  the  present 
apostolic  word.  These  were  signs  that  the  foretold 
Christ  had  come,  and,  after  a  manner  which  the 
farthest-seeing  prophet  could  not  foresee,  had  been  ex- 
alted and  glorified.  And  they  were  never  to  cease. 
They  should  be  perpetuated  through  the  coming  ages — 
signs  of  the  living  Christ  in  the  midst  of  the  Con- 
gregation which  he  would  ever  be  building. 

N'ow,  it  may  be  distinctly  helpful  to  have  spiritual 
truth  mediated  to  us  in  a  life  like  that  of  Simon  Peter. 
Because  in  him  it  is  illustrated  in  the  common  man. 
It  appears  in  connection  with  the  ordinary  rather  than 
the  extraordinary  gifts  of  intellect  and  strength  of 
character.  When  James  in  his  Epistle  would  show 
the  Christian  people,  one  and  all,  to  whom  he  is  writing. 


30  VISION  AND  POWER 

that  it  lies  within  their  power  to  prevail  mightily  in 
prayer  to  God,  he  reminds  them  that  even  the  righteous 
Elijah,  whose  supplication  availed  so  much,  was  "  a 
man  of  like  passions  [or,  Tiature^  with  us."  But  the 
reader  of  the  Gospels  needs  hardly  to  be  reminded  of 
such  a  fact  as  that  with  respect  to  Simon  Peter.  It 
is  quite  apparent  that  he  was  a  man  of  like  nature 
with  us.  Very  fitting  on  his  lips  would  have  been  such 
words  as  those  of  his  great  fellow-apostle  to  the  Gala- 
tian  converts  who  had  not  despised  him  because  of  an 
infirmity  of  his  flesh :  "  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  be  as 
I  am,  for  /  am  as  ye  are." 

And  this  suggests  that  we  venture  to  compare,  as  a 
further  introductory  word,  the  personal  influence  of 
these  two  men.  For  these  are  the  only  two  of  the 
Apostles  whom  we  know  as  preachers — the  one  chiefly 
to  Israel,  the  other  chiefly  to  the  nations — and  the  two 
with  whose  acts  the  greater  part  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  is  occupied.  The  influence  of  Paul  no  doubt 
appears  by  far  the  greater,  as  to  both  quality  and 
quantity.  But  let  it  be  supposed  that  the  Christian 
people  of  to-day  had  only  the  Apostle  Paul  as  a  New 
Testament  example.  They  would  indeed  have  a  greatly 
inspiring  and  instructive  example.  Think  of  our 
being  without  that  splendid  figure  in  the  Church  of 
the  early  age.  But  Paul  was  in  every  way  extraor- 
dinary. A  born  leader  of  men,  richly  endowed  in  both 
intellect  and  will,  intensely  religious,  with  utmost  zeal, 
though  with  heart-breaking  failure,  seeking  justifica- 
tion through  the  keeping  of  the  law,  relentlessly  striv- 
ing in  ignorance  and  unbelief  to  crush  out  the  very 


THE  MAN  31 

Church  of  God;  then  suddenly  receiving  the  light  of 
the  knowledge  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ, 
rejoicing  in  the  fulness  of  joy  in  the  Lord,  living  by 
a  faith  that  seemed  to  grow  more  triumphant  unto  th^ 
end,  latest  called  of  the  Apostles,  yet  laboring  more 
abundantly  than  they  all — he  was  indeed  the  Great 
Apostle.  "  Such  a  man  as  that,"  the  present-day  Chris- 
tian is  ready  to  say,  "  might  well  receive  visions  and 
revelations  from  the  Lord;  he  might  well  preach  the 
crucified  Christ  with  soul-subduing  power;  but  I,  I 
am  too  poor  and  low,  I  cannot  attain." 

Here,  however,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  man  who, 
without  the  natural  endowments,  or  the  early  religious 
struggles,  or  the  subsequent  attainments  and  achieve- 
ments, of  his  later  called  brother,  did  nevertheless  be- 
come a  true  Christian  disciple  and  the  foremost  apostle 
of  those  who  companied  with  Jesus.  He  loved,  trusted, 
followed,  and  "  spite  of  fears "  did  open  his  heart 
more  and  more  to  the  progressive  revelation  of  his 
Lord.  So  may  we.  The  "  God  of  patience  and  of 
comfort  "  was  his  God.  Jesus  bore  with  him,  "  remem- 
bered not  past  years,"  continued,  as  Lord  and  Friend, 
to  care  for  him.  "  Having  loved  His  own  that  were 
in  the  world,  he  loved  them  unto  the  end."  And  not 
only  unto  the  cross,  but  beyond  it,  "  he  appeared  to 
Cephas,  then  to  the  Twelve."  So,  likewise,  may  we 
be  recipients  evermore  of  the  divine  friendship  and 
self-revelation  of  Him  who  is  the  image  of  the  invisible 
God. 

It  matters  not  how  crude  may  be  one's  spiritual 
character  at  the  outset.     For  all  living  things,  as  we 


S2  VISION  AND  POWER 

know,  are  valuable  in  their  beginnings  not  so  much  for 
what  they  are  as  for  what  they  have  been  creatively 
intended  to  become.  Their  potentiality  is  the  true 
measure  of  their  value.  A  single  apple  seed  or  grain 
of  wheat  may  indeed  be  eaten,  but  its  chief  signifi- 
cance lies  in  the  fact  that  it  may  be  planted.  A  little 
child  is  of  priceless  worth;  but  suppose  that  through 
all  the  coming  years  he  should  remain  a  prattling 
child.  Similarly,  spiritual  character  is  never  a  fij^ed 
quantity,  never  a  finished  product.  The  very  least  of 
it  is,  to  be  sure,  exceeding  precious;  but  it  must  grow. 
If  it  does  not  grow,  it  will  die.  Moreover,  it  is  ca- 
pable of  growth  and  increasing  fruitfulness  evermore. 
It  is  astir  with  an  infinite  possibility. 

VII 

And  now  as  to  the  providential  opportunity  and  work 
unto  which  the  Lord  Jesus  would  prepare  his  faulty 
but  true-hearted  and  improving  disciple.  It  was  the 
opportunity  and  work  of  an  apostle,  which  was  that 
of  a  gatherer  and  caretaker  of  the  flock  of  the  Chief 
Shepherd  in  a  time  when  such  apostleship  meant  pri- 
vation, peril,  and  martyrdom. 

Did  a  man,  then,  so  lacking  at  one  time  in  knowl- 
edge and  self-poise  as  this  man  ever  attain  unto  a 
trustworthy  preparation  for  such  an  opportunity?  Let 
the  last  chapter  of  the  Gospel  according  to  John,  the 
first  twelve  chapters  of  The  Acts,  and  Peter's  own 
Epistles  (which  are  not  without  the  self-revealing  ele- 
ment) make  answer. 

So  we  are  prepared  to  meet  with  that  Christian  sense 


THE  MAN  SS 

of  service  which  pulsates  through  this  "  fellow-elder's  " 
own  exhortation  to  the  elders  of  the  Church  to  tend 
and  oversee  the  flock  of  God  which  is  among  them — 
even  as  he  himself  had  been  bidden  of  the  Chief  Shep- 
herd, "  Tend  my  sheep  " — not  because  they  must  but 
willingly,  not  for  money's  sake  but  "  of  a  ready  mind," 
not  lording  it  over  their  charge,  but  making  them- 
selves "  ensamples  to  the  flock."  * 

We  are  told  that  in  our  modern  age  the  man  on  the 
street  is  coming  to  his  own.  The  days  of  caste,  intel- 
lectual, political,  religious,  are  numbered.  Some  per- 
sons, it  is  true,  are  inclined  to  deplore  its  breakdown. 
"  Life  in  our  day  is  losing  all  its  picturesqueness,"  said 
to  me  a  cultured  Roman  Catholic  priest — in  criticism 
of  the  leveling  influence  of  the  democratic  spirit.  There 
is  a  modicum  of  artistic  truth,  no  doubt,  in  such  a 
lament.  But  the  spirit  of  moral  truth  and  spiritual 
humanness  is  conspicuously  absent.  Personality,  free- 
dom, brotherliness,  righteousness,  opportunity,  not  pic- 
turesqueness, are  the  ruling  ideas  of  a  Christian  civili- 
zation and  the  demand  of  the  human  heart.  A  tatter- 
demalion may  be  picturesque,  but  one  would  prefer 
to  have  good  clothes ;  and  an  Irish  peasant's  cottage  or 
an  American  Highlander's  cabin  might  well  afford  to 
exchange  "  all  its  picturesqueness  "  for  a  building  fit 
for  the  habitation  of  a  household.  The  picturesque 
feudal  lord  and  his  dependents  are  not  to  be  accounted 
of  beside  a  free,  self-dependent,  enlightened,  indus- 
trious, and  neighbourly  countiyside.  So,  there  is  a 
new   appreciation   of   simple   personality   and   human 

*  I  Peter   5 :  1-4. 


34  VISION  AND  POWER 

worth,  and  a  new  account  of  them  must  be  taken  in 
the  oncoming  life  of  the  world. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  conditions  of  such  an 
awakening,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  great  historic 
cause  of  it  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  twentieth  century, 
nor  in  the  nineteenth,  nor  yet  in  the  century  of  the 
Reformation.  Its  date  is  the  day  when  the  prophecy 
was  fulfilled  in  a  synagogue  of  Galilee,  "  The  poor 
have  good  tidings  preached  unto  them,"  and  when  they 
themselves  preached  it  unto  others.  Its  author  was 
the  Son  of  Man.  "  How  knoweth  this  man  letters,  hav- 
ing never  learned  ?  "  "  Is  not  this  the  carpenter  ?  " 
Truly  so,  a  fellow-ISTazarene  of  the  astonished  inquir- 
ers, a  worker  with  his  hands — for 

"The  Lord  of  Love 
Came  down  from  above 
To  dwell  with  the  men  that  work " — 

untitled,  without  ecclesiastic  oflSce,  uncrovsmed  with  the 
honors  of  ruler  or  scribe,  but  in  deepest  truth  and 
reality  the  Divine  Man.  His  day  was  the  day  of  man 
as  man.  The  Greatest  of  all  would  fain  become  the 
nearest  kinsman  of  all ;  "  Whosoever  shall  do  the  will 
of  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven,  he  is  my  brother,  and 
sister,  and  mother." 

What  we  have  before  us,  then,  first  of  all,  is  simply 
a  man  in  the  common  ways  and  circumstances  of  life. 
Not  a  man  equipped  with  extraordinary  gifts  and 
graces.  A  working  man,  a  wide-awake  fisherman  of  a 
thriving  lakeside  town — as  Hilary  said  of  John  the 
son  of  Zebedee,  "  dripping  clothes,  muddy  feet,  every 


THE  MAN  35 

inch  a  fisherman."  A  man  in  some  respects  of  an 
excellent  spirit,  but  not  without  conspicuous  faults  and 
weaknesses.  A  "  two-talent  "  man,  like  most  evangelic 
preachers  of  our  own  time.  But  coming  under  the 
mastership  of  Christ,  the  eyes  of  his  understanding 
are  enlightened  and  his  often  hasty  speech  is  new- 
made  into  a  gift  of  power.  The  metal  of  his  char- 
acter, though  genuine  yet  mixed,  is  tested,  purified, 
and  tempered,  as  iron  ore  may  be  made  into  finest  steel. 
So,  the  gifts  which  he  has  received  are  used  as  he 
himself  has  taught  that  such  gifts  ought  to  be  used — 
"  According  as  each  hath  received  a  gift,  ministering 
it  among  yourselves,  as  good  stewards  of  the  mani- 
fold grace  of  God."  * 

Such  was  Peter  the  Preacher.  Perhaps  we  can  see 
more  of  ourselves  in  him  than  in  any  other  of  the  l^ew 
Testament  people.  It  may  be  our  blundering  self;  it 
may  be  our  worse  self;  it  may  be  the  self  we  hope  to 
become.  In  any  case,  for  this  apostolic  "  brother  of 
the  common  life "  we  give  thanks  and  are  glad ;  be- 
cause he  is  veritably  our  brother,  and  in  him  it  may 
be  seen  that  the  blessing  of  the  vision  of  God,  with 
its  attendant  spiritual  power,  is  not  for  a  rarely  gifted 
few.  It  is  for  the  student  with  his  books,  the  work- 
man at  his  bench,  the  farmer  following  his  plough,  the 
preacher  before  his  congregation.  Some  of  its  bright- 
est manifestations  are  in  the  invalid  of  years,  with 
her  illumined  face  and  chastened  Christian  speech,  on 
the  bed  of  pain. 

•I  Peter  4:  10. 


n 

THE  HOUSETOP 

Now  on  the  morrow,  as  they  were  on  their  journey  and 
drew  nigh  unto  the  city,  Peter  went  up  upon  the  house- 
top to  pray,  about  the  sixth  hour. — Acts  10:  9. 

TO  witness  prayer  is  to  be  touched  with  the  sense 
of  a  higher  world.  You  have  come  inadvertently 
where  some  one  was  alone  on  his  knees — in- 
stantly there  fell  a  hush  upon  your  spirit,  as  upon  an 
intruder  on  holy  ground.  A  little  child  is  repeating, 
not  without  some  real  sense  of  their  meaning,  the  sim- 
ple words  of  petition  and  thanksgiving  that  have  been 
taught  him.  A  silver-haired  patriarch,  compassed  with 
infirmities,  is  bowed  before  the  God  of  his  fathers — 

"  For  thou  art  my  hope,  O  Lord  God, 
Thou  art  my  trust  from  my  youth." 

But  more  deeply  impressive,  perhaps,  than  the  prayer 
of  either  infant  or  octogenarian  is  that  of  the  strong 
man  of  affairs  in  the  midst  of  life.  What  must  be 
the  meaning  and  worth  of  the  hour  of  prayer  to  him  ? 


Such  a  one,  as  we  have  already  been  reminded,  was 
Simon  Peter — neither  youthful  nor  aged,  certainly  no 
cloistered  pietist  or  lonely  thinker,  but  an  outdoor  man 

86 


THE  HOUSETOP  87 

of  speech  and  action.  It  would  be  difficult  to  think 
of  him  waiting  through  long  years,  as  John  waited  in 
the  wilderness  till  the  appointed  time  of  his  appear- 
ing unto  Israel.  Had  he  been  secreted  for  the  saving 
of  his  life,  like  Luther  in  an  out-of-the-way  castle,  he 
would  have  quit  the  enforced  solitude,  as  Luther  did, 
before  the  danger  was  over,  and  given  himself  to 
exhorting  the  people.  "  I  go  a-fishing,"  said  he  when, 
in  the  absence  of  the  Master,  there  seemed  to  be  nothing 
better  to  undertake;  for  he  must  be  doing  something. 
It  was  a  mark  of  the  man;  and  it  showed  him  to  be, 
certainly  not  less  than  others,  in  need  of  devotional 
retirement. 

For  he  who  is  continually  with  the  outside  world, 
responding  readily  to  its  appeals,  who  speaks  much  with 
men,  must  also  learn  to  be  alone  and  to  speak  much 
with  God.  Otherwise  the  consciousness  of  the  Divine 
presence  will  tend  to  fade  out  of  his  life. 

See,  then,  this  notably  practical  and  energetic  dis- 
ciple of  Jesus  climbing  the  steps  of  Simon's  house  in 
Joppa  for  solitary  prayer. 

Besides,  let  it  be  remembered  that  here  is  the  case 
of  a  naturally  rash  and  self-confident  spirit.  A  special 
need  of  Simon  the  son  of  Jonas  on  the  way  to  become 
Peter  the  apostle  of  Christ  was  repose  of  spirit, 
equipoise,  self-mastery.  So  far,  therefore,  as  he  might 
be  lacking  in  these  elements  of  moral  strength,  there 
was  exposure  to  the  sudden  access  of  temptation  and 
consequent  need  of  both  watchfulness  and  prayer.  Was 
it  not  Jesus'  perception  of  this  very  danger  that  called 
forth  his  own  prayer  for  his  imperiled  disciple  just 


88  VISION  AND  POWER 

before  the  Betrayal — ^"  I  made  supplication  for  thee, 
that  thy  faith  fail  not  "  ?  And  it  was  in  this  same  time 
of  the  power  of  darkness  that,  again  singling  out  Simon 
Peter,  he  said  to  him :  "  Watch  and  pray,  that  ye 
[disciples]  enter  not  into  temptation." 

'No  wonder,  then,  that  such  a  man,  amid  the  de- 
mands of  a  special  ministry  of  word  and  deed  in  the 
towns  of  Lydda  and  Joppa,  should  have  it  to  tell  that 
he  went  upon  the  housetop  to  pray. 

And  it  was  no  wonder,  for  still  another  reason.  He 
had  seen  the  Master  in  prayer.  "  It  came  to  pass,  as 
He  was  praying  in  a  certain  place,  that  when  he  ceased 
one  of  his  disciples" — which  one,  probably? — "said 
unto  him.  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray,  as  John  also  taught 
his  disciples."  Jesus  praying — what  a  vision  of  the 
Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life!  Surely  if  anything 
could  have  awakened  in  the  mind  of  disciples  a  keener 
sense  of  their  need  of  prayer  and  of  instruction  therein, 
it  would  have  been  to  see  him,  the  Holy  One  of  God, 
kneeling  in  prayer.  "  Does  he  need  it  ?  Then,  how 
much  more  we.  And  does  not  this  Prophet,  this  Mas- 
ter, know  the  way  to  the  very  heart  of  God  ?  Then, 
let  us  ask  him  to  show  it  unto  us."  It  was  a  lesson 
which  they  could  hardly  fail  to  draw  from  such  an 
example.  So  Jesus  was  ever  illumining  for  them  the 
path  of  prayer,  not  only  by  precept  and  promise  and 
parable,  but  most  tenderly  and  forcibly  by  his  own 
prayers,  alone  or  in  their  presence  and  the  hearing 
of  their  ears,  and  by  the  life  of  communion  with  the 
Father  which  he  lived  among  them. 

Not,  however,  that  Peter  and  the  others  perfectly 


THE  HOUSETOP  39 

understood  and  imitated  this  side  of  their  Lord's  life 
at  that  time.  As  yet  such  wisdom  was  too  high  for 
them.  One  morning,  for  instance,  during  the  Galilean 
ministry,  when,  after  a  day  of  crowds  and  of  labor, 
to  be  followed  by  many  other  such  days,  Jesus  rose  up 
a  great  while  before  the  dawn  and  went  out  into  a 
solitary  place  to  pray,  "  Simon  and  they  that  were 
with  him  "  (note  Simon's  early  leadership)  "  followed 
after  him,"  and  having  found  him  said  unto  him,  "  All 
are  seeking  thee."  It  was  no  time,  thought  these  nov- 
ices in  Christian  service,  for  one  whose  work  as  teacher 
and  healer  were  in  such  demand,  to  be  alone  in  prayer ; 
and  accordingly  they  broke  in  upon  that  holy  solitude. 
They  did  not  understand  the  vital  relation  of  prayer 
to  service  in  the  life  of  the  Divine  Worker.  They  did 
not  see  that  in  secret  he  received  strength  which  he 
spent  openly.  But  "  Simon  and  they  that  were  with 
him,"  then  only  beginning  the  Christian  life,  learned 
many  things  afterward  through  their  discipleship.  For 
had  not  Jesus  himself  said :  "  If  ye  abide  in  my  word, 
then  are  ye  truly  my  disciples ;  and  ye  shall  know  the 
truth  "  ?  And  a  part  of  this  very  truth  which  they 
were  to  know  in  him  was  the  necessity  of  secret  prayer 
to  the  fulness  of  spiritual  vision  and  the  peculiar  power 
of  a  prophet  sent  forth  from  God. 

n 

Therefore,  let  us  pray.  And  among  other  things 
it  may  be  asked,  Where  may  I  find  a  fitting  place  for 
this  time  of  communion  with  the  Highest  ?  "  But  thou, 
when  thou  prayest,  enter  " — ^where  ?    Into  a  sanctuary 


40  VISION  AND  POWER 

where  no  religion  except  Christianity  sends  its  wor- 
shippers— "  into  thine  inner  chamber."  Thanks  be 
to  God,  there  are  many  inner  chambers  and  doors 
that  may  be  shut.  This  old,  old  earth,  the  scene  of 
so  much  sin  and  sorrow,  has  also  been  the  scene  of 
much  calling  upon  God.  Though  daily  reddened  by 
the  hand  of  violence  and  murder, 

"  And  crimson  with  battles  and  hollow  with  graves," 

it  is  also  daily  sanctified  by  kneeling  worshippers.  It 
offers  many  a  silent  retreat  beside  its  busy  thorough- 
fares for  those  who  would  be  alone  with  the  God  of 
their  life.  The  secluded  spot  is  still  shown  at  Valley 
Forge,  where  in  that  darkest  hour  of  his  country's  strug- 
gle for  independence  the  great  leader,  who  probably 
did  not  pray  very  much  under  ordinary  conditions,  was 
found  upon  his  knees.  "  It  was  the  custom  of  our 
fathers,"  says  the  biographer  of  Jesse  Lee,  "  to  retire 
to  the  woods  at  the  close  of  the  day,  whenever  circum- 
stances allowed  it,  for  the  purpose  of  prayer."  I  had 
a  friend  who  asked  that  he  might  be  sent  from  a  city 
pastorate  back  to  the  country,  because,  for  one  thing 
at  least,  he  longed  to  be  where  he  could  "  go  into  the 
woods  to  pray." 

To  many,  indeed,  "  the  trees  of  God  "  have  afforded 
a  veritable  sanctuary.  A  spirit  of  life  and  of  peace 
is  there;  God  himself  is  there,  speaking  in  a  voice  of 
gentle  stillness — the  God  of  nature,  who  is  the  God 
and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  "  Break  forth 
into  singing,  ye  mountains,  O  forest,  and  every  tree 
therein."    Was  it  not  to  such  temples  of  the  spirit  that 


THE  HOUSETOP  41 

our  Lord  was  wont  to  go  for  secret  prayer — to  the 
solitary  place,  the  mountain  by  the  Lake,  the  Mount 
of  Olives  ? 

Most  commonly  the  Christian's  place  of  prayer  is 
some  room  in  his  own  dwelling-house — ^the  Master  had 
no  dwelling-house,  no  room,  of  his  own.  Or,  it  may 
be  at  his  place  of  business,  a  room  where  he  withdraws, 
day  after  day,  seeking  strength,  amid  besetting  tempta- 
tions, to  make  his  business  a  true  service  of  God.  In 
the  case  of  the  Christian  preacher,  the  scene  of  his 
most  strenuous  intellectual  exertion  will  at  the  same 
time  be  a  scene  of  the  outpouring  of  his  soul  to  God, 
his  study  his  oratory.  Outside  there  may  be  the  surg- 
ing waves  of  a  great  city's  population,  but  within  he 
is  alone  with  the  heavenly  Father.  In  John  Wesley's 
house  on  City  Eoad,  London,  the  study,  where  he 
wrought  with  such  tireless  mental  industry,  opens  into 
the  bed-chamber,  in  which,  from  half-past  nine  o'clock 
in  the  evening — ^was  it  not? — until  four  in  the  morn- 
ing, he  received  the  gifts  of  God's  beloved  in  continu- 
ous and  restorative  sleep.  But  the  bed-chamber  opens 
into  another  room,  unfurnished,  too  small  to  be  fur- 
nished— ^the  prayer-room  of  that  busiest  and  mightiest 
organizer  of  evangelism  in  modern  Christianity.  "  En- 
ter into  thine  inner  chamber,  and  having  shut  thy  door, 
pray  to  thy  Father  who  is  in  secret,  and  thy  Father 
who  seeth  in  secret  will  recompense  thee  " — even  there. 

The  most  distressing  evil  attendant  upon  lack  of 
room  in  the  homes  of  the  very  poor — ^those  of  the 
crowded  tenement,  for  example — is  the  denial  of  pri- 
vacy.    For  this  means  denial  of  needful  provision  in 


42  VISION  AND  POWER 

the  culture  of  the  individual  human  soul.  Such  pro- 
vision is  demanded  for  comfort's  sake,  for  modesty's 
sake,  for  refinement's  sake,  for  morals'  and  manners' 
sake;  and  not  for  these  only,  but  also  for  the  sake 
of  private  prayer.  Somewhere  and  somehow  the  Chris- 
tian must  have  his  prayer-room.  And  shall  not  the  city 
churches,  also,  like  true  houses  of  God,  keep  unlocked 
doors,  that  passers-by  and  whosoever  will  may  come  in 
to  rest  and  pray? 

ni 

All  this  because  a  chosen  and  secluded  place  is  essen- 
tial to  the  devotional  life  ?  No,  but  because  it  is  need- 
ful. By  the  family  fireside,  on  the  street,  at  the  daily 
employment,  a  prayerful  heart  will  have  its  upward 
look,  its  song  of  praise,  its  quick  petition  for  guidance 
and  grace.  The  heart  may  be  alone  with  God  amid  the 
jostling  of  any  crowd.  But  such  a  worshipper  will 
also  be  drawn  to  the  still  hour  and  the  cloistered  room. 
It  was  he  from  whose  lips  fell  the  words,  "  neither  in 
this  mountain  nor  in  Jerusalem  "  and  "  in  spirit  and 
truth,"  that  commended  the  inner  chamber  and  the 
shut  door.  It  was  the  same  Lord  Jesus,  full  of  grace 
and  truth,  who  in  the  presence  of  others  rejoiced  in 
spirit  and  said,  "  I  thank  thee,  O  Father,  Lord  of 
heaven  and  earth,"  that  withdrew  from  his  disciples, 
went  into  a  solitary  place,  "  and  there  prayed." 

Now,  the  Oriental  housetop  was  no  unfit  place  for 
meditation  and  prayer.  It  represented  detachment, 
though  not  complete  seclusion,  from  the  human  world 
below,  and  communication  with  the  God  of  heaven. 


THE  HOUSETOP  43 

For  this  "  inner  chamber  "  was  open  to  the  sky ;  and 
instinctively  we  think  of  that  visible  heaven  as  sym- 
bolizing the  heaven  that  is  so  "  high,"  in  nature  though 
not  in  distance,  as  to  be  invisible.  For  what  does  it 
mean — this  vast  celestial  dome  above  our  heads,  with 
the  light  of  worlds  innumerable  from  the  infinite  of 
space  softly  shining  through — if  it  be  not  a  symbol  of 
the  infinite  range  and  domain  of  the  soul  ? 

In  like  manner  we  think  of  prayer  as  an  ascending 
of  the  soul,  a  climbing  heavenward  for  closer  commun- 
ion with  God.  Such  is  the  form  it  takes  in  our  pic- 
torial thought  and  speech.  "  When  we  had  vainly 
explored  all  other  paths,"  wrote  a  victorious  Christian 
witness,  "  we  found  God  upon  the  Hills  of  Prayer. 
We  were  comforted.  There  is  no  word  tender  or 
blessed  enough  in  human  speech  to  explain  how.  All 
that  we  can  solemnly  affirm  is  that  the  great  majestic 
presence  of  the  Father  abides  upon  those  everlasting 
hills." 

Thus  it  seems  fitting  that  Moses  should  go  upon  the 
Mountain  to  receive  the  Law  and  behold  the  glory  of 
Jehovah.  And  thus  the  homely  city  housetop,  in  a 
less  sublime  but  no  less  real  way,  was  significant  of 
the  spiritual  heights  of  Prayer.  It  was  fitting  that 
Peter  in  Joppa  should  go  up  there  to  pray.  Beneath 
were  the  house  with  its  "  many  things  "  of  bodily  pro- 
vision and  care,  the  well-trodden  streets  of  the  town, 
the  fruitful  gardens,  the  shipping  in  the  harbour, 
the  sunlit  sea;  above  were  the  unsearchable  depths 
of  heaven,  "  at  the  sixth  hour "  clear  and  radiant, 
its   zenith   aflame   with   intolerable   splendour,    at  the 


44  VISION  AND  POWER 

evening   hour   gathering   the   solemn   mystery   of   the 
stars. 

Here,  therefore,  was  a  blending  place  of  earth  and 
sky  which  might  well  help,  after  its  manner,  to  pre- 
pare the  mind  of  an  apostle  of  Jesus  to  see  in  vision 
*•'  the  heaven  opened  "  and  to  hear  the  Voice  proclaim- 
ing the  gracious  will  of  God  for  mankind. 

IV 

And  now,  thinking  upon  the  act  itself,  rather  than 
upon  the  hour  and  place,  we  have  to  ask,  Why  should 
secret  prayer  ever  be  neglected  in  the  Christian  life? 
Some  of  the  reasons  are,  unhappily,  but  too  evident. 

There  may  be  a  lacTc  of  freedom  in  prayer.  I^either 
the  heart-cry  of  the  Psalmist,  "  My  heart  and  my  flesh 
cry  out  unto  the  living  God,"  nor  the  triumphant  dox- 
ology  of  the  apostle,  "  But  thanks  be  to  God  who  giveth 
us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  is 
always  the  voice  of  our  own  hearts  before  God.  Some 
may  even  be  ready  to  declare  that  it  is  seldom,  if  ever, 
so.  The  conscious  filial  spirit  may  be  wanting.  The 
sense  of  hunger  for  righteousness  and  of  gratitude  for 
the  great  goodness  of  God  in  our  daily  life  has  some- 
how been  dulled.  The  world  enters  even  through  the 
shut  door.  It  is  hard  to  lift  up  the  heart  unto  the 
Lord,  l^either  the  ideas  nor  the  feeling  nor  the  lan- 
guage of  devotion  come  at  command.  Prayer  is  felt 
to  be  at  best  a  duty,  and  the  question  arises,  whether 
in  such  a  spirit  it  is  worth  while  to  pray  at  all. 

But  it  is  worth  while.  'Never  insincerely,  never  as 
a  meritorious  or  expiatory  exercise,  but  under  a  sense 


THE  HOUSETOP  45 

of  obligation,  if  that  be  the  only  present  motive,  let 
a  man  pray.  Let  him  meditate  upon  the  things  of  the 
spirit,  let  him  make  confession  of  his  sins,  let  him 
offer  thanksgiving  to  the  Father  of  mercies,  let  him 
tell  as  best  he  may  the  inmost  desires  of  his  heart — 
let  him  pray.  For  though  it  were  nothing  more,  it 
would  still  be  a  debt  to  be  paid.  It  is  due  from  a  man 
to  himself,  to  his  fellows,  and  to  his  God,  that  he  seek 
through  prayer  the  highest  good,  which  only  can  fit 
him  for  the  highest  service. 

Putting  himself  thus  in  the  way  of  the  Spirit, 
he  may  rest  in  the  Lord  till  duty  shall  be  glorified 
with  love  and  praise.  It  was  so  in  Israel  when  the 
statutes  of  Jehovah  rose  to  the  lips  of  the  faithful 
as  songs — "  His  delight  is  in  the  law  of  the  Lord." 
Duty  and  love,  indeed,  are  so  near  together,  and  in 
such  perfect  accord  with  each  other,  that  duty  may 
be  quickened  by  love  into  a  true  law  of  the  spirit  of 
life  in  Christ.  The  true-hearted  bond-servant  may  be- 
come a  true-hearted  lover  of  his  Master;  and  surely 
the  heart  of  the  Master  will  turn  in  recompense  and 
kindness  toward  him.  "  ISTo  longer  do  I  call  you  bond- 
servants .  .  .  but  I  have  called  you  friends." 


Again,  there  may  be  self-absorption  in  affairs.  In 
the  affairs  of  the  household,  of  business,  of  professional 
life,  of  favorite  pursuits  and  associations  ?  To  be  sure, 
and  even  in  Biblical  or  ecclesiastic  or  ministerial  af- 
fairs. "  I  am  profoundly  convinced,"  says  Jowett  in 
his  Yale  Lectures — having  in  mind  a  certain  difference 


46  VISION  AND  POWER 

he  had  noted  between  the  British  and  the  American 
pulpit — "  that  one  of  the  present  perils  that  beset  the 
ministry  of  this  country  is  a  restless  scattering  of 
energies  over  an  amazing  multiplicity  of  interests  which 
leave  no  margin  of  time  or  of  strength  for  receptive 
and  absorbing  communion  with  God." 

The  Bible  scholar  analyzes  and  compares  his  texts, 
consults  his  authorities,  gives  his  interpretations — and 
ought  to  do  so.  We  are  all  greatly  his  debtors,  for 
without  him  we  should  not  even  have  the  Scriptures 
to  read  in  our  own  tongue  in  which  we  were  born. 
But  it  is  possible  that,  all  the  time,  he  himself  may  be 
declining  rather  than  increasing  in  the  knowledge  about 
which  his  scholarship  is  most  deeply  concerned.  The 
ecclesiastic  cares  little  perhaps  for  learning,  but  he  is 
taken  up  with  the  business  of  the  Church;  matters  of 
policy  and  administration  interest  him  greatly;  leader- 
ship, with  its  exertion  of  both  authority  and  influence, 
is  gratifying;  but  even  if  he  keep  himself  pure  from 
personal  ambition  and  the  use  of  expedients,  either 
direct  or  indirect,  to  secure  the  honors  and  emoluments 
of  office,  he  may  be  caring  less  for  the  Lord's  cause 
now  than  when  he  served  in  obscurity.  "  When  I  was 
in  low  condition,"  a  Bishop  of  Rome  is  reported  to 
have  said,  "  I  had  a  good  hope  of  salvation ;  when  I 
was  advanced  to  be  a  cardinal  I  greatly  doubted  it ;  but 
since  I  have  come  to  the  popedom  I  have  no  hope  at 
all."  The  minister  in  charge  of  a  congregation  attends 
to  the  duties  of  his  office  in  the  pulpit  and  elsewhere, 
thinking  out  many  sermons,  dealing  as  an  organizer 
and  a  pastor  with  many  people ;  and  he  "  cannot  bear 


THE  HOUSETOP  47 

evil  men,"  and  is  ready  to  try  "  them  that  call  them- 
selves apostles,  and  they  are  not."  But  to  be  spirited 
is  not  to  be  spiritual;  and  the  Divine  message  to  this 
caretaker  of  the  Church  may  be :  "  Thou  hast  patience 
and  didst  bear  for  my  name's  sake,  and  hast  not  grown 
weary.  But  I  have  this  against  thee,  that  thou  didst 
leave  thy  first  love." 

Whatever  the  cause,  the  cure  need  not  be  doubt- 
ful. This  will  be  found  in  the  path  of  prayer — in  the 
consciousness  and  practice  of  the  presence  of  God. 
Only  let  his  light  invade  the  darkness,  and  it  will 
heal  and  restore  the  soul.  Would  a  man,  whatever 
his  sphere  or  line  of  life,  really  "  do  justly  "  and  "  love 
mercy  "  ?  He  must  all  the  while  "  walk  humbly  with 
his  God." 

When  the  Seventy  returned  to  the  Master,  overjoyed 
that  on  their  evangelistic  tour  the  demons  had  been  sub- 
ject unto  them  in  his  name,  they  were  graciously  re- 
ceived; but  together  with  the  renewal  and  enlarge- 
ment of  their  gift,  this  word  of  admonition  fell  from 
the  lips  of  Jesus :  "  Howbeit  in  this  rejoice  not,  that 
the  spirits  are  subject  unto  you;  but  rejoice  that  your 
names  are  written  in  heaven."  There  was  danger  that 
in  the  exercise  of  gifts  they  might  forget  their  personal 
relations  to  God.  The  joy  of  any  position  or  of  any 
notable  work  in  the  Church  is  nothing  in  comparison 
with  the  joy  of  being  in  spirit  and  character  a  son  of 
God  with  one's  citizenship  in  heaven. 


48  VISION  AND  POWER 


VI 

Still  again,  there  may  be  occasional  or  lingering  fee- 
bleness of  faith  in  the  power  of  prayer.  We  hardly  know 
whence  or  why,  perhaps,  but  sometimes  a  chill  of  doubt 
falls  upon  the  soul.  The  confession,  "  I  believe,"  is 
followed  by  the  instant  prayer,  "  Help  thou  my  unbe- 
lief." How  can  it  be,  we  are  tempted  to  ask,  that  flesh 
and  blood  should  expect  to  lay  hold  upon  the  Infinite 
and  Eternal  God  ?  Whereupon  we  ought  rather  to  say, 
Bethink  thyself,  O  thou  of  little  faith,  and  consider 
that  it  is  the  very  greatness  of  the  Infinite  and  Eternal 
that  brings  him  so  near.  Were  he  less  than  infinite, 
we  might  be  here  and  he  there,  and  no  intercommuni- 
cation possible.  But  there  is  no  here  and  there  to  him. 
Vast  indeed  the  universe,  myriad  myriads  the  number 
of  its  inhabitants;  but  the  creating  Mind  cannot  be 
confused  or  overtasked  with  the  multitude  of  his  own 
creations.     It  is  no  multitude  to  him. 

Imagine  this  earth  the  only  inhabited  world,  and 
yourself  its  only  inhabitant.  Behold,  you  are  kneeling 
— one  and  alone.  Would  it  seem  strange  in  that  case 
for  the  Maker  of  you  to  hear  the  cry  of  your  heart 
unto  him?  But  the  prayer  of  numberless  other  sup- 
pliants can  make  no  difference  in  such  a  matter  to 
the  Infinite  Personal  God.  "  Thou  thoughtest  that 
I  was  altogether  such  a  one  as  thyself." 

Then,  too,  we  are  not  "  flesh  and  blood."  Essentially 
spirits  in  a  world  of  spirits,  we  have  affinity  with  the 
Father  of  spirits.     Yonder  within  the  small  space  of 


THE  HOUSETOP  49 

a  flat  house-roof  is  an  object  still  smaller,  •  moving 
about,  speaking  or  silent,  unnoticed,  insignificant.  It 
is  nothing — only  a  worm  of  the  dust,  only  an  ant  of  a- 
troubled  ant-hill  "  in  the  gleam  of  a  million  million 
suns."  But  no ;  here  is  no  insignificant  object ;  this  is 
no  mere  lump  of  animated  clay.  This  worm  of  the 
dust,  this  "  ant,"  is  capable  of  an  infinite  outlook  and 
an  eternal  destiny.  Through  the  pupil  of  his  eye,  a 
gateway  not  wider  than  a  pin's  head,  there  enters  the 
whole  expanse  of  the  heavens,  to  touch  his  brain;  and 
the  man  within  the  brain  questions  the  stars,  discovers 
them  as  worlds,  tracks  them  along  their  awful  path- 
ways, and  measures  the  speed  of  their  flight.  He  be- 
comes an  astronomer — reading  "  the  time-table  of  the 
universe."  What  is  more  and  better,  he  becomes  a 
worshipper.  He  can  respond  to  the  touch  of  the  Eter- 
nal, he  can  know  the  Lord  and  Ruler  of  his  ovm  moral 
life,  he  can  see  the  glory  of  God  in  the  life  of  Jesus 
Christ;  and  his  head  is  bowed  in  reverent  wonder 
and  adoration.  He  is  kneeling.  Shall  we  turn  away 
in  doubt  that  such  a  being  can  indeed  draw  near  in 
prayer  to  God — or  that  God  may  draw  near  to  him 
in  Christ  and  the  Divine  Spirit? 

Indeed,  prayer  itself  is  not  an  original  utterance, 
but  a  response.  It  is  the  voice  of  the  soul  awakened 
by  the  voice  of  God  in  the  soul.  Early  in  childhood, 
when  the  innocent  dawn  was  upon  the  hills,  it  was  he 
who  called  us  by  his  Spirit.  When  first  we  truly 
prayed,  it  was  our  listening  and  speaking  to  him  who 
is  ever  speaking  to  us.    Asking  is  listening. 

Since,   then,   God   has   inspired  our  prayers,   it   is 


50  VISION  AND  POWER 

surely  not  too  much  to  trust  him  to  hear  them.  For  in 
very  truth  he  has  inspired  them.  "  The  Spirit  also 
helpeth  our  infirmity;  for  we  know  not  how  to  pray 
as  we  ought;  but  the  Spirit  himself  maketh  interces- 
sion for  us  with  groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered." 
The  unutterable  desires  of  our  hearts  toward  God  are 
incited  within  us  by  his  own  Spirit,  and  hence  they  are 
his  prayers  even  more  truly  than  they  are  our  own — 
his  "  intercession  for  us  "  in  the  sense  of  being  his 
inspiration  in  us. 

VII 

It  is  here  that  we  gain  the  highest  conception  of 
prayer — that,  namely,  of  filial  communion  with  God, 
Ill-advised  is  that  criticism  of  the  leader  in  congrega- 
tional prayer  which  complains :  "  Why  does  he  not 
come  to  the  point  ?  Why  not  ask  for  the  things  we  need, 
and  quit  ? "  A  buyer  approaching  a  salesman  may 
properly  enough  tell  in  the  fewest  possible  words  what 
he  wants.  But  should  a  friend  be  instructed  that  he 
must  habitually  do  so  in  coming  to  his  friend,  or  a 
child  in  coming  to  his  father?  If  one  whom  we  love 
and  revere  should  desire  to  know  at  our  approach.  What 
do  you  want  ?  he  would  be  likely  to  have  for  answer, 
"  I  want  to  be  with  you."  This  is  what  friendship 
means,  its  supreme  joy  and  most  characteristic  de- 
mand— to  he  with  you.  And  this  highest  relation  of  a 
soul  with  its  fellow  soul  is  a  sign  of  the  highest  relation 
of  a  soul  with  its  eternal  Father.  Prayer  is  filial 
converse  with  him.  From  the  Upper  Room  and  the 
Garden  of  Gethsemane  has  been  borne  to  the  reverently 
attentive  spirit  its  supreme  expression. 


THE  HOUSETOP  61 

Not  that  petitions,  even  requests  for  material  ob- 
jects, are  excluded.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  invited. 
He  whom  the  Father  always  heard  prayed  the  prayer 
of  petition  and  taught  his  disciples  to  ask  for  their 
daily  bread.  Moreover,  he  himself  was  the  hearer  of 
many  petitions  for  bodily  renewal;  because  prayer  is 
an  opener  of  the  way  for  that  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ 
of  which  both  soul  and  body  are  the  temple — "  a  habi- 
tation of  God  in  the  spirit."  Wherefore,  "  in  nothing 
be  anxious,  but  in  everything  by  prayer  and  suppli- 
cation with  thanksgiving  let  your  requests  be  made 
known  unto  God."  It  is  the  bidding  of  the  Father 
of  spirits  that  his  children  should  ask  him  thus  for 
the  good  gifts  they  have  need  of;  and  all  "  natural  law  " 
is  the  orderly  and  regular  expression  of  his  will,  the 
continuous  witness  of  his  presence  and  infinite  per- 
sonal power. 

But  how  much  better  was  it  to  be  with  Jesus  him- 
self as  disciple  and  friend  than  to  be  healed  of  any 
physical  malady;  and  how  much  better  is  God  him- 
self than  any  such  gift  from  his  hands.  Verily  it  is 
a  good  thing  to  come  before  him  and  offer  petitions  to 
him,  but  in  the  larger  vision  of  God  the  soul  may 
humbly  and  reverently  walk  with  him.  With  bowed 
head  and  praiseful  heart  the  sons  of  light  have  learned, 
from  the  beginning  even  until  now,  that  the  Almighty 
Ruler  of  the  universe  may  also  be — oh,  wondrous  word 
of  grace — the  Divine  Companion. 

It  is  more  than  probable,  indeed,  that  in  our  per- 
sonal religious  history  praying  began  as  petitions.  The 
motive  was  to  get  something  by  asking;  and  it  is  a 


62  VISION  AND  POWER 

motive  that  will  abide  unto  the  end.  But  not  alone. 
There  is  a  holier  and  closer  speech  with  the  God  in 
whom  we  live,  even  the  prayer  of  communion. 

"  It  is  true  prayer 
To  seek  the  Giver  more  than  gift, 

God's  life  to  share 
And  love — for  this  our  cry  to  lift," 

In  the  truest  sense  of  the  word,  we  do  not  rest  even 
in  the  promises  of  God.  We  may  plead  them,  indeed, 
but  not  as  if  they  were  something  apart  from  the 
Divine  nature;  not  as  if  he  were  bound  by  them  like 
an  unwilling  ruler  or  friend.  He  will  ever  be  mind- 
ful of  his  covenant,  but  it  is  because  his  covenant  is 
an  expression  of  himself,  the  promises  a  revelation  of 
the  Promisor. 

In  the  case  of  a  man,  our  fellow,  it  may  sometimes 
be  that  the  chief  claim  with  which  we  approach  him 
is,  "  You  have  promised."  Somehow  he  committed 
himself  in  speech,  and  though  he  may  repent  it,  yet 
we  insist  that  he  keep  his  word.  But  is  it  so  in 
the  case  of  a  perfect  friend  ?  is  it  so  in  the  case  of  a 
father  or  mother?  Their  verbal  pledges  are  for  our 
information  only,  showing  us  what  to  expect  and  ask 
for.  Without  any  such  committal,  they  will  both  hear 
and  anticipate  our  requests.  It  is  in  their  heart  to 
do  so.  In  like  manner,  let  God's  children  know  the 
truth  of  his  being,  and  they  will  trust  him  either  with 
or  without  a  specific  word  of  promise.  "  They  that 
know  Thy  name  " — that  know  Him  as  revealed — "  will 
put  their  trust  in  thee." 

Wherefore,  Christian  prayer  is  not  a  petty  or  a  self- 


THE  HOUSETOP  63 

ish  cry.  It  cannot  be  such,  indeed,  since  it  must  needs 
be  offered  in  a  loving  as  well  as  a  trustful  spirit. 
"  Whensoever  ye  stand  praying,  forgive,  if  ye  have 
aught  against  any  one."  And  that  a  man  should  habitu- 
ally pray  for  himself  and  not  for  others,  never  for 
father,  mother,  child,  never  for  any  fellow-man,  is  to 
the  Christian  mind  unthinkable.  Spontaneously  will 
the  prayer  of  the  heart  pass  into  thanksgiving  and 
intercession,  rising  in  doxologies,  descending  in  bene- 
dictions. It  is  faith  and  love,  communion  with  God 
on  high  in  a  spirit  of  brotherhood  toward  men  on  earth 
— its  all-comprehensive  word.  Our  Father. 

It  need  strike  us  with  no  surprise,  then,  if  in  prayer 
an  apostle  of  Jesus  should  enter  more  fully  into  the 
mind  of  his  Lord,  and  be  prepared,  calling  nobody 
common  or  unclean,  to  offer  the  same  hope  of  salvation 
to  all  men  everywhere. 

"For  hearken!     God  saith,  'Pray! ' 
And  he  shall  show  his  plan, 
And  lead  us  in  his  shining  way 
That  leadeth  on  to  perfect  day 
Each  God-surrendered  man!  " 

Yes,  it  is  through  communion  with  God  that  "  his  shin- 
ing way,"  near  and  far,  appears.  It  is  from  the  house- 
top that  the  heavenly  vision  is  seen. 


Ill 

THE  VISION 

And  he  became  hungry  and  desired  to  eat.  But 
while  they  made  ready  he  fell  into  a  trance;  and  he 
beholdeth  the  heaven  opened  and  a  certain  vessel  de- 
scending, as  it  were  a  great  sheet,  let  down  by  four 
corners  upon  the  earth,  wherein  were  all  manner  of 
four-footed  beasts  and  creeping  things  of  the  earth 
and  birds  of  the  heaven.  And  there  came  a  voice  to 
him,  Rise,  Peter,  kill  and  eat.  But  Peter  said,  Not  so. 
Lord;  for  I  have  never  eaten  anything  that  is  common 
and  unclean.  And  a  voice  came  unto  him  again  the 
second  time,  What  God  hath  cleansed  make  not  thou 
common.  And  this  was  done  thrice;  and  straightway 
the  vessel  was  received  up  into  heaven. — Acts  10:  10-16. 

WHILE,  in  the  living-rooms  below  thej  were 
making  ready  the  mid-day  meal  for  their 
guest,  another  ministration  was  at  hand  for 
the  hunger  of  his  spirit.  A  great  truth,  which  Peter 
had  already  known  something  of,  was  now  to  become 
in  a  much  closer  sense  his  own.  It  was  set  before 
him,  this  living  bread  of  truth,  through  the  aid  of  a 
vision  which  he  saw  in  a  state  of  trance. 


!N^ow  "  trance  "  and  "  vision,"  as  here  used,  are  not 
over-familiar  words.  The  experiences  for  which  they 
stand,  while  not  restricted  to  the  sphere  of  religion, 
are  rare.  If,  not  having  had  such  experiences,  we 
care  to  realize   the   idea   of  them,  we   shall   have  to 

54 


THE  VISION  55 

approach  them  through  similar  experiences  of  which 
we  do  have  some  personal  knowledge.  And  it  so  hap- 
pens that  there  are  similar  experiences  which  every- 
body is  familiar  with.  For  natural  sleep  is  a  mild 
trance  state,  a  dream  is  a  vision  seen  in  sleep ;  and  more 
than  a  fourth  of  every  human  life  is  lived  in  the 
world  of  sleep  and  dreams. 

The  busy  day  is  over.  In  the  midst  of  its  affairs, 
heart  and  brain  and  hands  all  astir,  the  things  of 
sense  and  of  society  were  intensely  real  and  engaging. 
There  was  no  thought  of  withdrawing  one's  self  from 
them.  It  was  delightful  to  be  conscious  of  ourselves, 
aware  of  the  persons  about  us,  sensitive,  active,  alive. 
Yet  under  the  shadows  of  evening  there  comes  a  sen- 
sation directly  the  opposite  of  all  this.  !N"erve  and 
muscle  begin  to  care  for  nothing  now  except  to  be 
relieved  of  duty.  Their  one  demand  is,  "  Incite  us 
not  to  action  beyond  our  time,  let  us  alone,  let  us 
rest  " — their  one  note  that  of  the  lotus-eaters'  song, 
"  There  is  no  joy  but  calm."  The  eyelids  droop  and 
fall  heavily;  the  senses,  sight  first  and  hearing  last, 
refuse  to  act;  voluntary  motion  ceases;  and  with  an 
exquisite  feeling  of  submission  the  body  yields  itself 
captive  to  the  matchless  witchery  of  sleep.  For  none 
the  less  welcome  in  its  turn  than  the  good  cheer  of 
the  sunlight,  and  none  the  less  needful,  is  this  soft 
nightly    sinking   down    into    the    semblance    of   death 

itself. 

"  Oh,    solemn    mystery 
That  I  should  be  so  closely  bound 
With  neither  terror  nor  constraint. 
Without  a   murmur  of  complaint, 
And  lose  myself  upon  such  ground." 


56  VISION  AND  POWER 

But  no  sooner  does  the  pall  of  darkness  and  silence 
fall  than  an  inner  world  of  imagination,  a  picture 
show  of  sights  and  sounds,  appears;  for  to  sleep  is  to 
dream.  For  the  most  part,  indeed,  it  is  a  picture  show 
of  dissolving  views  out  of  all  true  order,  with  no 
reasonable  relation  to  the  facts  of  life — the  effect  alto- 
gether discordant  and  illusory.  With  reason,  will,  con- 
science renouncing  their  supremacy,  and  imagination, 
disporting  itself  as  mere  fancy,  in  well-nigh  complete 
control,  is  there  any  flow  of  ideas  on  this  side  of 
insanity,  more  incoherent,  incongruous,  fantastic  than 
dreaming  ? 

But  what  of  it  ?  What  if  the  rest-time  of  the  brain  be 
the  play-time  of  the  mind?  Let  the  rest  and  the 
play  continue  side  by  side  for  a  season,  inasmuch  as 
they  are  giving  the  vital  forces  an  indispensable  op- 
portunity to  restore  the  body's  lost  strength  of  yester- 
day and  tone  it  up  for  to-morrow.  Thus,  when  waking 
time  dawns,  behold,  the  playground  has  turned  out 
to  be  a  harvest-field.  Concerning  a  sick  friend  we 
are  fain  to  hope  that  "  if  he  is  fallen  asleep,"  whether 
dreamless  or  dreaming,  "  he  will  recover."  * 

II 

The  glance  of  the  mind  is  in  certain  directions  ex- 
traordinarily keen  and  penetrative  in  sleep.  A  dream 
may  be  a  nightmare,  but  on  the  other  hand  it  may  be 
a  revelation.  Thus  we  sometimes  become,  as  Sir 
Thomas  Browne  has  put  it,  "  somewhat  more  than  our- 
selves in  sleep."    Because  undoubtedly  there  are  latent 

♦John  11:  12. 


THE  VISION  57 

energies  of  the  mind  that  tend  to  sleep  while  we  are 
awake,  and  to  awake  when  we  sleep.  Facts  which  have 
again  and  again  eluded  the  waking  memory  come,  with- 
out being  called,  when  the  intruding  senses  have  been 
warned  off.  So  also  the  best  plan  of  a  discourse,  a 
strain  of  poetry,  or,  in  the  case  of  a  story-teller,  the  plan 
of  a  story,  is  sometimes  dreamt  out  in  sleep.  Robert 
Louis  Stevenson  tells  of  having  the  plot  or  even  whole 
chapters  of  stories  given  in  his  dreams.  They  were 
given  him  by  what  he  fancifully  calls  "  the  brownies  " 
— a  truer  name  than  which,  if  not  a  more  fanciful  one, 
might  easily  have  been  chosen. 

A  classic  instance  is  that  of  the  composition  of  Coleridge's 
"  Kubla  Khan :  or,  A  Vision  in  a  Dream."  In  a  note  appended 
to  the  first  edition  of  this  poetic  fragment,  the  poet  remarks  that 
he  consents  to  its  publication  "  rather  as  a  psychological  curiosity 
than  on  the  ground  of  any  supposed  poetic  merits,"  and  tells  the 
story  of  its  origin,  in  part  as  follows :  "  The  author  continued  for 
about  three  hours  in  a  profound  sleep,  at  least  of  the  external 
senses,  during  which  time  he  has  the  most  vivid  consciousness 
that  he  could  not  have  composed  less  than  from  two  to  three 
hundred  lines;  if  that  indeed  can  be  called  composition  in  which 
all  the  images  rose  up  before  him  as  things,  with  a  parallel  pro- 
duction of  the  correspondent  expressions,  without  any  sensation 
or  consciousness  of  effort.  On  awaking,  he  appeared  to  himself 
to  have  a  distinct  recollection  of  the  whole,  and  taking  his  pen, 
ink,  and  paper,  instantly  and  eagerly  to  write  down  the  lines 
that  are  here  preserved. 

"  At  this  moment  he  was  unfortunately  called  out  by  a  person 
on  business  from  Porlock,  and  detained  by  him  above  an  hour, 
and  on  his  return  to  his  room  found,  to  his  no  small  surprise  and 
mortification,  that  though  he  still  retained  some  vague  and  dim 
recollection  of  the  general  purport  of  the  vision,  yet  with  the 
exception  of  some  eight  or  ten  shattered  lines  and  images,  all  the 
rest  had  passed  away  like  the  images  on  the  surface  of  a  stream 
into  which  a  stone  had  been  cast." 

Similarly,  the  clue  to  an  elusive  problem,  the  deter- 
minative idea  of  a  coveted  invention,  a  happy  artistic 
insight,  or  a  sense  of  exalted  self-consciousness,   has 


58  VISION  AND  POWER 

in  numberless  instances  risen  up  of  itself  in  some 
moment  of  leisure  or  of  reverie,  and  has  sometimes  been 
the  gift  of  the  dreaming  mind. 

Such  dream  experiences,  it  need  hardly  be  added, 
are  for  the  most  part  exceptional  and  never  to  be  for- 
gotten. "  The  writer,"  says  Mr.  J.  Brierly,  "  speaks 
again  with  some  hesitancy,  not  sure  whether  on  this 
point  he  is  reporting  what  is  to  any  extent  a  common 
experience.  But  he  can  testify  with  certainty  as  an 
individual  to  occasions,  coming  at  widely  separated 
intervals  in  the  career,  when  the  soul,  under  the  con- 
ditions of  sleep,  has  become  conscious  of  itself  with 
a  power,  a  freshness  as  of  immortal  youth,  a  felt  rela- 
tion to  the  illimitable  and  the  eternal,  accompanied 
by  a  thrilling  rapture,  as  of  heaven's  central  life,  to 
which  no  waking  state  can  offer  a  parallel,"  * 

It  seems  entirely  true  that  in  more  ways  than  one 
"  He  giveth  to  his  beloved  in  sleep."  f 

The  fact  is  that  both  the  materials  and  the  spirit  of 
our  dreams  seem  to  be  drawn  from  the  waking  life,  and 
to  partake  of  its  character.  Allowing  for  exceptions 
that  must  otherwise  be  accounted  for,  this  is  the  rule. 
The  good  man  will  be  good  in  both  thought  and  act, 
whether  he  wake  or  sleep,  while  on  the  other  hand  a 
disordered  mind,  like  a  disordered  body,  will  yield 
evil  dreams.  Does  the  dreamer  welcome  and  cherish 
impure  images  ?  It  is  a  welcome  reflected  from  his 
waking  life. 

'No   wonder   that   the    half-crazed    patriarch   when, 

*  "  Ourselves  and  the  Universe,"  pp.  258-59. 
t  Psalm  127 :  2,  margin. 


THE  VISION  69 

vainly  seeking  some  intermission"  of  suffering,  he  said, 
"  My  couch  shall  ease  my  complaint,"  *  soon  found 
himself  scared  with  dreams  and  terrified  with  visions. 
Torture  of  body  and  bewildering  agony  of  mind  could 
expect  little  else.  But  Job,  we  observe,  has  no  con- 
fession to  make  of  having,  even  in  such  distracting 
dreams,  been  guilty  of  blasphemy  or  of  any  other 
direct  disobedience  toward  God.  For  what  a  man  is 
profoundly  principled  against  doing  he  will  not  do, 
either  awake  or  dreaming.  He  cannot  be  made  to 
do  it  even  in  a  state  of  hypnosis. 

Think  what  would  probably  be  the  dreams  of  a 
man  in  perfect  health  of  body  and  soul.  Above  all, 
let  it  never  be  feared  or  fancied  that  to  fall  asleep 
is  to  fall  outside  the  realm  of  the  Divine  presence, 
providence,  and  instruction.  "  It  is  dreadful,"  says 
a  morally  sensitive  youth  in  a  Scotch  story,  "  to  think 
o'  fa'in  asleep  without  some  ane  greater  an'  nearer 
than  the  me  watchin'  ower't."  So,  one  may  devoutly 
ask  in  evening  prayer : 

"  And  when  my  thought  is  all  astray, 
Yet   think   Thou   on   in   me; 
That  with  the  newborn  innocent  day 
My  soul  rise  fresh  and  free. 

"  Nor  let  me  wander  all  in  vain 

Through  dreams  that  mock  and  flee; 
But  even  in  visions  of  the  brain 
Go  wandering  toward  Thee." 

Ill 

May  I  commend  two  not  unfamiliar  words  of  Scrip- 
ture as  adapted  to  enter,  with  peculiar  light  and  power, 

♦  Job  7 :  13. 


60  VISION  AND  POWER 

into  the  self-communing  of  the  devoutly  meditative 
soul  ?     One  is  from  the  pen  of  a  psalmist : 

"  Yet  the  Lord  will  command  his  lovingkindness  in  the  day-time, 
And  in  the  night  his  song  shall  be  with  me, 
Even  a  prayer  imto  the  God  of  my  life." 

The  other  is  from  the  lips  of  an  apostle  of  Jesus 
Christ :  "  He  is  not  far  from  each  of  us,  for  in  Him 
we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being."  "  The  God  of 
my  life,"  "  In  Him  we  live  " — may  I  say  that  ?  Then 
let  me  once  for  all  dismiss  the  thought  that  God  is  a 
being  far  away  in  time  or  space.  He  is  here,  in  all  the 
reality  of  his  being,  in  all  the  plenitude  of  his  power 
and  grace,  this  moment. 

Yea,  let  me  reverently  confess  that  the  Lord  of 
heaven  and  earth  is  the  God  of  every  need  and  every 
possibility  of  my  nature,  of  sense  and  spirit,  of  the 
days  and  the  nights,  of  my  dreaming  as  well  as  my 
judging,  of  imagination  as  well  as  reason.  His  domin- 
ion embraces  the  shadow-world  which  emerges  when 
the  eyelids  fall,  as  truly  as  this  outer  shadow-world 
which  we  are  prone  to  think  of  as  so  very  real.  From 
no  part  of  my  experience,  natural  or  supernatural, 
might  I  shut  him  out,  even  if  I  would,  at  any  time 
from  helpless  infancy  to  helpless  senility.  If  he  will, 
then,  in  the  seclusion  of  sleep  and  in  the  imagery  of 
the  dream-life,  he  may  speak  to  the  attentive  spirit 
in  some  effectual  sign  of  his  thought  or  purpose  or 
care. 

It  has  been  so  from  the  beginning.  The  record  of 
it  may  be  found  in  both  the  Hebrew  and  the  Chris- 
tian Scriptures;  and  not  in  them  alone.     Jacob  went 


THE  VISION  61 

his  way,  after  the  dream  that  had  changed  the  name 
of  Luz  into  that  of  Bethel,  still  uncured,  it  is  true,  of 
his  self-seeking  spirit,  but  with  a  greatly  strengthened 
faith  in  the  purpose  and  providence  of  the  God  of  his 
fathers.  When  Paul  had  seen,  in  a  vision  of  the  night, 
a  man  of  Macedonia  standing  and  beseeching  him  to 
come  thither,  he  straightway  sought  to  set  sail  for  the 
great  Continent  of  the  West,  concluding  that  God  had 
called  him  and  his  comrades  to  preach  the  gospel  there 
also.  But  may  we  not  believe  the  same  good  hand 
of  God  to  have  been  in  the  dream  which  gave  a  new 
direction  to  the  literary  lifework  of  the  learned  Chris- 
tian father,  Jerome, — in  which  he  seemed  to  see  the 
form  and  hear  the  voice  of  Christ  himself,  who  said, 
"  Jerome,  thou  art  a  follower  of  Cicero  and  not  of 
Christ "  "i  or  in  that  of  Monica,  the  mother  of  Augus- 
tine, which  gave  her  the  assurance,  amid  unceasing 
prayers  for  her  wayward  son,  that  he  would  yet  be 
found  standing  by  her  side  in  the  same  rule  of  Christian 
faith  ?  "  Whence  was  this  but  that  thine  ears  were 
toward  her  heart,  O  Thou  Good  Omnipotent,  who  so 
carest  for  every  one  of  us  as  if  thou  caredst  for  him 
only?"* 

Or,  coming  down  to  our  ovm  day,  may  we  not  believe, 
with  A.  J.  Gordon,  that  the  dream  in  which  he  seemed  to 
see  in  his  congregation  on  a  certain  Sunday  morning 
One  whom  he  afterward  learned  was  the  Lord  Jesus, 
though,  as  he  says  of  it,  "  only  a  dream,"  was  "  a  vision 
of  the  deepest  reality,  verifying  the  statement  often 
repeated  that  sometimes  we  are  more  awake  to  God 

•Augustine,  "Confessions,"  Book  III.  sec.  19. 


62  VISION  AND  POWER 

when  we  are  asleep  to  the  world  "  ?  *     Whatever  its 

origin  or  occasion,  it  certainly  marked  the  beginning 

of  the  memorably  fruitful  period  of  his  ministry.     It 

made    him    another    man — and    his    church    another 

church. 

"  In  a  dream,  in  a  vision  of  the  night. 
When  deep  sleep  falleth  upon  men, 
In  slumberings  upon  the   bed, 
Then  He  openeth  the  ears  of  men 
And  sealeth  their  instruction." 

IV 

But  it  ia  time  to  pass  from  the  nightly  experience 
of  sleep  to  the  consideration  of  an  experience  much 
less  familiar,  yet  no  greater  a  mystery.  Let  us,  then, 
suppose  the  bodily  torpor  to  be  still  more  profound — 
the  soul  retreating  still  farther  from  the  outposts  of 
sense.  Let  this  experience  not  arise,  like  sleep,  as 
a  necessary  means  of  physical  rest  and  rehabilitation, 
regularly  recurring,  but  as  an  experience  wholly  need- 
less for  any  physical  purpose ;  and  not  as  the  experience 
of  every  man,  woman,  and  child  on  earth,  but  of  one 
in  ten  thousand.  Such  sleep,  which  sinking  deeper 
and  deeper  would  become  death,  is  a  trance. 

The  'New  Testament  word  is  ecstasy  (  enfftaffi?^  liter- 
ally, out  of  a  state).  In  the  Gospels  it  is  used  only  in 
the  sense  of  "  astonishment,"  "  amazement."  In  The 
Acts  it  is  used  once  in  this  same  sense,  and  three  times 
in  the  sense  of  a  state  of  "  trance."  f 

*  "  How  Christ  Came  to  Church,"  chap.  I. 

t  The  passages  are  as  follows:  Mark  5:  42;  16:  8;  Luke  5:  26; 
Acts  3:  10;  10:  10;  11:  5;  22:  17.  For  the  Apostle  Paul's  ac- 
count of  a  memorable  trance,  in  which  he  does  not  use  the  word 
itself,  see  II  Corinthians  12:  1-7. 


THE  VISION  63 

Like  sleep,  trance  is  not  exclusively  a  religious  phe- 
nomenon. Nor  is  it  a  symptom  of  some  diseased  con- 
dition of  the  nervous  system,  or  even  of  nervous  in- 
stability. Moreover,  it  shows  itself  in  sundry  forms 
and  in  different  degrees  of  completeness  and  signifi- 
cance. 

Shall  we  look  at  some  of  these?  To  begin  with,  it 
might  be  noted  that  any  such  concentration  of  the 
mind  on  a  subject  of  emotional  interest  as  abstracts 
it  from  all  else,  so  as  to  make  the  thinker  practically 
unobservant  of  the  external  world,  is  the  taking  of  steps 
in  the  direction  of  trance.  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  who 
would  doubtless  be  quite  competent  to  give  personal 
testimony  on  the  subject  if  he  chose,  makes  reference 
to  "  the  rather  hazy  and  absorbed  condition  which  is 
associated  with  the  quality  of  mind  called  genius,"  and 
remarks  that  "  when  a  poet  or  musician  or  mathema- 
tician feels  himself  inspired,  his  senses  are^ — at  least  his 
commonplace  and  non-relevant  attention  is — dulled  or 
half  asleep." 

Various  examples  from  the  history  of  science,  of 
learning,  land  of  philosophic  thought  have  been  re- 
corded. They  are  such  as  that  of  Sir  Isaac  IsTewton; 
that  of  the  younger  Scaliger,  who,  pursuing  his  studies 
in  Paris  at  the  time  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew, and  as  a  zealous  Protestant  in  peril  of  his  life, 
knew  nothing  of  what  was  going  on  till  the  following 
day;  and  the  still  more  celebrated  example  of  Socrates, 
of  whom  it  is  reported  that,  while  serving  as  a  sol- 
dier, he  was  "  seen  by  the  Athenian  army  to  stand  for 
a  whole  day  and  a  night,  until  the  breaking  of  the 


64  VISION  AND  POWER 

second  morning,  motionless,  with  a  fixed  gaze,"  and  that 
thus  he  was  wont  to  do  when  deeply  absorbed  in 
thought. 

It  is  in  view  of  these  instances  and  the  like  that  Sir 
William  Hamilton,  in  his  discussion  of  the  power  of 
abstraction  and  attention,  remarks  that  the  successful 
thinker  must  "  even  be  able  in  a  certain  degree  to 
emancipate  himself  from  the  dominion  of  the  body,  and 
live,  as  it  were,  a  pure  intelligence,"  and  that  "  in  some, 
indeed,  the  power  of  abstraction  almost  degenerated 
into  a  habit  akin  to  disease."  *  IN'o  doubt  the  intel- 
lectual seer  or  discoverer  will  learn  what  it  is  to  rise 
out  of  and  above  his  ordinary  self,  and  even  to  stand 
on  the  threshold  of  a  kind  of  intellectual  ecstasy. 

Similar  is  the  rapture  of  the  musician  borne  aloft 
on  his  inner  sense  of  new  and  wondrous  harmonies 
of  sound.  It  is  related  of  Sidney  Lanier — by  the  gift 
of  God  a  lover  and  maker  of  music,  if  ever  one  was — 
that  there  were  times  when  he  would  seem  to  lose  all 
outward  sensibility  under  the  entrancing  power  of  these 
musical  conceptions.  "  Apparently  unconscious,  he 
would  seem  to  hear  the  richest  music,  or  again  he  would 
awake  from  a  deep  trance,  alone,  on  the  floor  of  his 
room,  and  the  nervous  strain  would  leave  him  sadly 
shaken  in  nerves."  f  It  was  the  ecstasy  of  a  child 
of  song. 

ISTow,  it  is  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  the 
capability  of  mental  concentration  differs  greatly  in 
different  persons.     So  also  and  much  more  does  the 

•  "  Metaphysics,"  Lect.  xiv,  p.  180. 

t  Charles  Forster  Smith,  "  Reminiacencea  and  Sketches,"  pp. 
137-38. 


THE  VISION  65 

capability  of  passing  into  the  ecstatic  state.  Of  the 
blending  of  these  two  powers  the  poet  Tennyson  was 
a  notable  example.  By  steadily  occupying  his  entire 
attention  with  some  one  simple  thing,  he  could  enter 
at  times  into  a  mystical  experience  in  which  the  outer 
world  and  even  his  own  body  seemed  to  him  strange 
and  unreal.  On  the  other  hand,  the  consciousness  of 
himself  was  clarified  and  intensified  to  an  indescribable 
degree  of  perfection.  "  Not  a  confused  state,"  he  says, 
"  but  the  clearest  of  the  clear,"  and  yet  "  utterly  be- 
yond words."  The  thought  of  death  at  such  a  time 
seemed  "  an  almost  laughable  impossibility."  Yet  his 
individuality  seemed  to  lose  itself  in  "  boundless  be- 
ing." *  What  ray  of  truth  or  mist  of  error  such  an 
ecstasy  may  have  yielded  is  not  here  in  question,  but 
only  the  example,  in  the  case  of  a  sincere  and  mar- 
vellously gifted  mind,  of  a  certain  form  of  ecstatic 
experience. 

Need  we  be  reminded  of  the  trance  phenomena  that, 
here  and  there,  have  marked  the  history  of  Christianity  ? 
They  were  not  unknown  in  the  Evangelical  Kevival  of 
the  Eighteenth  Century,  with  its  repeated  baptisms  of 
fire,  and  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  Methodist  move- 
ment in  America.  Wesley,  true  to  the  habit  of  his 
mind,  made  careful  observation  of  them  as  they  oc- 
curred under  his  personal  ministry,  and  has  left  on 
record  some  account  of  his  inquiries.  Of  certain  per- 
sons, for  example,  with  whom  he  talked  concerning 
trance  experiences  through  which  they  had  passed,  ho 
says :  "  What  they  all  agreed  in  was,  1.  That  when  they 

•"Memoir,"  Vol.  I,  p.  320. 


66  VISION  AND  POWER 

went  away,  as  they  termed  it,  it  was  always  at  the  time 
they  were  fullest  of  the  love  of  God;  2.  That  it  came 
upon  them  in  a  moment,  without  any  previous  notice, 
and  took  away  all  their  senses  and  strength;  3.  That 
there  were  some  exceptions,  but  in  general  from  that 
moment  they  were  in  another  world,  knowing  nothing 
of  what  was  done  or  said  by  all  that  were  round  about 
them."  * 

In  itself,  then,  a  state  of  trance,  like  a  state  of  dream- 
ing, has  no  moral  or  religious  significance.  It  is 
neither  good  nor  bad.  But  the  cause  and  the  experi- 
ences of  this  out-of-self  state  may  be  full  of  signifi- 
cance. 

V 

And  now  from  this  little  excursion  in  post-Biblical 

fields,  we  may  turn   again  to  the  Scripture   history. 

Here,  when  dreams  and  visions  are  spoken  of,  it  is  not 

clear,  in  every  instance,  whether  these  were  experienced 

in  an  ordinary  sleep  or  in  a  trance.     It  seems  plain 

enough,  however,  that  it  was  in  some  sort  of  trance 

state  that  such  visions,  for  example,  were  given  as  that 

of  Abraham,  when  "  a  deep  sleep  fell  upon  Abram,  and 

lo,  an  horror  of  great  darkness  fell  upon  him,"  f  of 

Balaam,  "  falling  down  and  having  his  eyes  open,"  J 

of  Ezekiel — ^"  So  the  Spirit  lifted  me  up  and  took  me 

away  .  .  .  and  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  strong  upon 

me  "  II — or  that  of  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  when 

he  was  "  caught  up  even  to  the  third  heaven,"  whether 

in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body  he  could  not  tell.§ 

*  "  Journal,"  Aug.  6,  1759.  t  Numbers  24:  4. 

t  Genesis   15:  12.  ||  Ezekiel  3:  14. 

§11  Corinthians  12:2. 


THE  VISION  67 

But  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  such  as  these  are  ex- 
amples of  a  usual  or  a  preeminent  method  of  divine 
revelation  to  prophets  and  apostles.  This  would  be  to 
misinterpret  them  grievously.  It  was  ordinarily  in 
their  normal  state  that  the  truth  was  taught  to  these 
men  of  old  who  "  spake  from  God,  being  moved  by 
the  Holy  Spirit."  Indeed,  the  vision  and  dream  are 
described,  even  in  the  early  days  of  Israel,  as  "  dark 
speeches,"  in  comparison  with  the  clearer  and  more 
distinct  utterance  of  the  word  of  Jehovah  to  her  great 
lawgiver  and  leader :  "  If  there  be  a  prophet  among 
you,  I  the  Lord  will  make  myself  known  unto  him 
in  a  vision.  I  will  speak  with  him  in  a  dream.  My 
servant  Moses  is  not  so ;  he  is  faithful  in  all  my  house : 
with  him  will  I  speak  mouth  to  mouth,  even  mani- 
festly, and  not  in  dark  speeches."  * 

Similarly,  while  there  were  apostles  who  knew  more 
or  less  of  the  experience  of  trance  and  vision,  it  was 
not  through  the  teaching  of  these  experiences  that, 
for  example,  Peter  preached  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost, or  Paul  at  Antioch  and  Athens,  or  that  the 
Epistles  and  Gospels  of  the  New  Testament  were 
written. 

Above  all,  the  life  of  the  Prophet  of  prophets,  as 
we  know  it,  was  not  marked  by  revelation  in  visions 
and  dreams.  It  was  not  in  sleep  or  in  trance  that 
Jesus  saw,  as  none  other  has  ever  seen,  the  mind  and 
will  of  Him  that  sent  him.  It  was  immediate  knowl- 
edge. It  was  by  oneness  with  the  Father  in  the  Spirit 
of  all  fulness  of  truth  and  grace. 

*  Numbers  12 :  7,  8. 


68  VISION  AND  POWER 


VI 

But  again  as  to  Peter  and  the  early  apostolic  age. 
"  I  was  in  the  city  of  Joppa  praying,"  he  said  some 
time  afterward  to  his  brethren  in  Jerusalem,  "  and  in 
a  trance  I  saw  a  vision."  *  What  manner  of  trance 
and  vision  were  these  ?  As  to  the  vision,  its  form  seems 
to  have  been  taken,  as  in  the  case  of  an  ordinary  dream, 
from  the  bodily  state,  the  mental  equipment,  and  the 
everyday  circumstances  of  the  percipient — reflections 
of  waking  experiences.  Note  some  of  these  conditions. 
Peter  was  hungry;  and  what  he  saw  was  a  concourse 
of  living  creatures  of  which  he  was  commanded  to  kill 
and  eat.  He  had  long  been  familiar  with  the  sight 
of  wind-filled  sails  on  Lake  Gennesaret  and  had  no- 
ticed them,  it  may  be,  only  a  few  minutes  before  on 
the  Mediterranean  Sea;  and  it  was  some  such  sheet 
{o^ovtjy  linen  cloth,  such  as  sheet  or  sail)  that  he  saw 
enclosing  the  "  four-footed  beasts  and  creeping  things 
of  the  earth  and  birds  of  the  heaven."  His  last  uplook 
before  falling  into  trance  was  unto  the  open  heaven — 
no  ceiling  overhead;  and  it  was  from  heaven  that  the 
four-cornered  sheet  descended  to  rest  upon  the  earth. 
He  was  presumably  well  acquainted  with  the  number 
three  as  the  Hebrew  symbol  of  totality  or  the  perfect 
doing  of  an  act;  and  it  was  thrice  that  the  sheet  de- 
scended and  the  voice  bade  him  kill  and  eat.  He 
had  always  punctiliously  observed  the  Levitisal  dis- 
tinction of  clean  and  unclean  meats ;  and  so  he  declined 
to  violate  it  now. 

•Acts  11:5. 


THE  VISION  69 

He  declined,  indeed,  with  characteristic  bluntness. 
It  seemed  to  him  utterly  out  of  the  question  to  eat 
the  unclean.  The  very  thought  of  a  son  of  Israel  eat- 
ing swine's  flesh,  for  example — abominable !  And  with 
all  boldness  he  said  what  he  felt:  "  ]^ot  so  {^^daf-ica?, 
by  no  means),  Lord,  for  I  have  never  eaten  anything 
that  is  common  or  unclean."  For  Peter,  observe,  was 
altogether  himself  in  the  vision,  and  spoke  as  he  was 
wont  to  do.  Never  out  of  character,  he  appears  in 
trance  just  as  he  appears  habitually  in  his  waking  life. 

So  simply  and  naturally  does  the  imagery  of  the 
vision  seem  to  have  arisen. 

All  this,  however,  is  but  a  matter  of  form,  an  out- 
side matter,  which  is  valuable  only  as  a  means  in  the 
way  of  expression  and  communication.  Form  is  the 
sign  of  a  deeper  reality;  it  is  the  letters  of  the  word. 
And  in  this  vision  of  the  Clean  and  the  Unclean  the 
spiritual  reality,  the  inner  word,  is  a  world-embracing 
truth  of  redemption  in  Jesus  Christ. 

VII 

Let  us  not  fail  to  note  the  period  in  the  history  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  when  the  vision  was 
given.  It  was  the  age  of  the  Christian  revelation. 
!^^^ever  before  did  God  speak  such  a  word  to  men  as 
he  spoke  in  his  Son,  who  was  himself  the  Word  made 
flesh.  For  "  God  was  in  Christ  " — the  holy  God  and 
Father  drawing  near  to  sinful  men  in  the  at-one-ment 
of  suffering  love.  And  the  Spirit  of  truth,  interpreting 
these  facts  of  redemption,  was  now  making  all  things 
new — duty,  religion,  love,  the  world,  life,  death,  the 


70  VISION  AND  POWER 

future,  all  a  new  creation  in  Christ.  It  was  indeed 
the  "  fulness  of  the  time,"  the  fulfilling  and  completing 
in  Jesus  Christ  of  the  Divine  self-revelation  mediated 
through  ritual,  vision,  elect  spirits,  prophetic  word,  all 
along  the  preceding  ages. 

"  Because  of  the  tender  mercy  of  our  God, 
Whereby  the  dayspring  from  on  high  shall  visit  us, 
To  shine  upon  them  that  sit  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of 

death ; 
To  guide  our  feet  into  the  way  of  peace." 

That  was  the  historic  setting  of  the  vision.  And  this 
man  on  the  housetop,  who  was  he?  Not  only  chief  of 
the  Apostles  of  Jesus,  but  first  a  prophet — sent  forth 
to  preach  because  of  his  prophetic  vision.  A  plain 
working  man,  but  a  Christian  seer.  For  he  could  so 
understand  the  Divine  Man  as  to  answer  him  and  say : 
"  We  have  believed  and  know  that  thou  art  the  Holy 
One  of  God."  * 

Nevertheless,  under  this  illumination,  followed 
though  it  was  by  the  completer  illumination  of  Pente- 
cost, here  at  least  was  a  truth  which  would  seem  to  have 
been  still  unclear  even  to  Peter  the  Preacher:  the 
truth,  namely,  that  the  gospel  which  ihe  had  been 
preaching  in  the  Holy  City  and  out  in  the  land  of 
Israel  must  be  proclaimed,  as  identically  the  same  gos- 
pel, to  those  who  were  not  of  Israel.  Could  this  be 
so  ?  Were  sinners  of  the  vast  pagan  world  to  be  saved 
by  simple  faith  in  Christ,  apart  from  any  observance 
whatever  of  the  divinely  prescribed  Judaic  rites  ?  Had 
not  Jehovah  made  an  everlasting  covenant  with  Israel  ? 
Did  not  the  Christ  himself  spend  his  life  and  min- 

*  John  6 :  67-69. 


THE  VISION  71 

istrj  among  "  his  own  "  ?  Were  distinctive  age-long 
laws  and  sacred  institutions  to  count  henceforth  for 
nothing?  It  is  so  hard  not  to  feel  that  the  form  in 
which  a  truth  has  been  clothed,  and  about  which  have 
gathered  so  many  sacred  emotions  and  associations,  is 
somehow  as  enduring  as  the  truth  itself. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  was  the  apostolic  com- 
mission :  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all 
nations  .  .  .  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  what- 
soever I  commanded  you  " ;  and  Jesus  had  never  com- 
manded as  a  duty  of  religion  the  observance  of  any 
Judaic  rite.  The  whole  spirit  and  trend  of  his  teach- 
ing was  in  the  contrary  direction. 

Above  all,  there  was  Jesus  himself,  the  Son  of  Man, 
the  Friend  of  sinners,  uplifted  on  the  cross  that  he 
might  be  drawing  all  men  unto  himself.  And  the  new 
spirit  of  power  which  had  descended  upon  the  dis- 
ciples, these  men  of  Galilee,  was  it  not  urging  them 
forth  beyond  the  borders  of  Judea  and  Galilee,  in 
all  directions,  to  proclaim  the  remission  of  sins  in 
One  through  whom  all  men  alike  might  have  access  by 
the  same  Spirit  unto  the  Father  ? 

It  was  urging  them  overseas,  even  to  the  distant 
islands — Cyprus,  Rhodes,  Crete — and  toward  unknown 
lands  beyond.  In  full  view  of  Simon  the  tanner's  house 
the  Mediterranean  was  flinging  its  waves  against  the 
inhospitable  shores  of  the  Hebrews'  fatherland.  "  And 
for  the  western  border  ye  shall  have  the  Great  Sea."  * 
There  were  the  far-reaching  guardian  waters  which  had 
helped  to  isolate  Israel  in  the  period  of  her  tutelage, 

*  Numbers  34:  6, 


72  VISION  AND  POWER 

when  her  economy  must  needs  be  that  of  seclusion  and 
defence.  Let  them  now  become  a  highway  for  the  out- 
going ships  that  should  convey  the  preachers  of  an 
aggressive  and  universal  evangel.  So  the  sea  itself, 
overlooked  from  the  housetop,  was  suggestive  of  world- 
wide opportunity  and  obligation. 

And  yet,  and  yet  the  misgiving  would  insistently 
arise,  whether  one  might  not  go  too  fast  or  too  far 
in  this  direction ;  whether,  for  example,  an  uncircum- 
cised  pagan  should  be  baptized  and  admitted  to  the 
homes  and  the  tables  of  God's  ancient  people,  and  side 
by  side  with  them  to  the  breaking  of  bread  at  the 
table  of  the  Lord.  Rather  it  would  seem  in  almost 
every  instance  to  have  been  more  than  a  misgiving.  It 
was  a  stubborn  denial.  The  ancient  religious  distinc- 
tion, it  insisted,  must  be  maintained.  To  break  it  down 
would  be  to  open  a  floodgate  to  all  manner  of  scepti- 
cisms and  abuses.  It  would  be  the  destruction  of  the 
Church. 

VIII 

^ow,  there  may  somewhere  be  persons  in  our  en- 
lightened day  who,  by  a  combination  of  temperament 
and  education,  are  so  utterly  free  from  anything  ap- 
proaching the  tyranny  of  custom  as  to  find  it  difficult 
to  sympathize  with  such  minds  as  those  of  Simon  Peter 
and  his  brethren  in  Israel.  But  these  would  be  rare 
spirits  indeed;  the  vast  majority  of  us  are  confronted 
by  no  such  difficulty.  In  this  spirit  of  the  over- 
estimation  of  age-long  distinctions,  racial,  national,  so- 
cial,   ecclesiastical,    religious,    the    fisherman    Apostle 


THE  VISION  73 

appears  simply  as  one  of  innumerable  fellows,  East  and 
West,  ancient  and  modern. 

It  is  the  spirit  which  divided  mankind  at  one  time 
into  the  two  great  classes,  familiar  to  all  readers  of 
the  New  Testament,  of  Greeks  and  Barbarians.  Natu- 
rally enough,  no  doubt,  the  classic  Greek,  with  his 
unquestioned  superiority  over  all  the  other  peoples  in 
philosophy,  art,  oratory,  and  especially  in  literature 
and  language,  was  disposed  to  look  down  upon  the  others 
as  having  no  language  at  all.  Their  speech,  he  said, 
was  a  mere  hah,  bah,  or,  as  he  called  it,  bar,  bar;  and  so 
he  contemptuously  named  them  Bar-bar-ians.  It  is  the 
spirit  of  the  High  Churchman  of  all  generations,  who, 
in  the  very  face  of  the  New  Testament,  would  exclude 
all  other  Christians  from  the  Church  of  God.  It  is 
the  spirit  of  all  sectarianism,  whether  the  sect  be 
cultured  or  crude,  numerous  or  obscure,  a  few  years 
or  a  few  hundred  years  old. 

Saul  of  Tarsus  bitterly  accused  his  own  earlier  life 
of  this  sin  of  arrogant  bigotry.  And  the  cruelty  which 
it  led  him  to  inflict  upon  others  he  himself  was  made 
to  suffer  again  and  again.  We  remember  that  the 
Jewish  audience,  for  illustration,  before  which  he  was 
trying  to  make  his  defence  from  the  steps  of  the  castle 
in  Jerusalem,  gave  a  respectful  hearing  to  the  story 
of  his  conversion  and  subsequent  spiritual  experience, 
till  he  spoke  of  being  sent  to  preach  to  the  Gentiles — "  I 
will  send  thee  far  hence  unto  the  Gentiles."  Unto  the 
Gentiles?  That  was  too  much — too  shamefully  hereti- 
cal a  word  to  be  for  one  moment  tolerated.  It  trans- 
formed the  "  fathers  and  brethren "  of  his   audience 


74  VISION  AND  POWER 

into  desperadoes.  It  dehumanized  them.  Electric  with 
rage  and  indignation,  "  they  threw  off  their  garments," 
they  "  cast  dust  into  the  air."  "  Away  with  such  a 
fellow  from  the  earth,"  "  it  is  not  fit  that  he  should 
live." 

It  is  true,  we  do  not  certainly  know  that  this  burn- 
ing ritual  question  of  early  Judean  Christianity  was 
agitating  the  mind  of  Cephas  on  his  present  evangelistic 
tour.  But  one  may  not  unreasonably  suppose  it  to  have 
been  so.  Lifelong  custom  and  conviction  were  hard 
indeed  to  renounce — born  in  him  through  many  gen- 
erations of  such  a  race  as  he  belonged  to.  Yet  the 
fact  of  having  accepted  the  hospitality  of  Simon  in 
Joppa  may  be  taken  as  a  sign  that  his  face  was  toward 
the  dayspring  rather  than  toward  the  sunset;  for  the 
occupation  of  a  tanner,  involving,  as  it  did,  contact 
with  the  skins  of  dead  animals,  was  classed  by  the 
Jewish  people  as  unclean. 

"  I  have  never,"  said  this  son  of  Jonah,  heart  and 
soul  a  Jew.  "  ISTot  so.  Lord ;  for  /  have  never  eaten 
anything  that  is  common  and  unclean."  That  is  what 
he  gave  as  a  reason  why  he  should  not  eat  such  food 
now.  It  is  the  voice  of  conservatism,  still  heard  in 
every  sphere  of  life  and  thought.  After  forty-five  years 
of  age  the  farmer  in  his  field,  the  mechanic  among  his 
tools,  the  cook  in  his  kitchen,  the  teacher  in  his  class- 
room, the  preacher  in  his  pulpit,  confronted  with  new 
knowledge  or  new  aspects  of  truth  or  new  ways  of 
doing  old  tasks,  or  new  methods  of  service,  is  not  un- 
likely to  answer  and  say,  "  I  have  never." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  spirit  of  radicalism,  either 


THE  VISION  76 

in  thought  or  in  practice,  is  that  of  the  adventurer,  who 
wearies  of  the  things  to  which  he  has  become  accus- 
tomed and  runs  with  open  arms  to  embrace  the  new 
because  of  its  very  newness. 

But  life,  ever  obeying  its  own  law  and  no  other, 
is  ever  changing  its  forms;  and  true  conservatism  is 
not  a  body  of  death.  It  is  astir  with  vital  powers.  "  I 
was  brought  up,"  said  William  Ewart  Gladstone,  "  to 
distrust  and  dislike  liberty;  I  learned  to  believe  in  it. 
That  is  the  key  to  all  my  changes."  "  I  have  never," 
John  Wesley  was  ready  to  say  at  the  first  suggestion 
of  an  active  public  life  for  himself,  of  admitting  Dis- 
senters to  the  Lord's  Supper,  of  field  preaching,  of 
laymen  as  preachers,  of  ordination  by  presbyters.  But 
with  respect  to  all  such  ways  and  methods  of  Chris- 
tian service,  ere  long,  despite  early  education  and  pres- 
ent preference,  his  note  was  changed  to  a  cheerful  and 
obedient  "  It  is  the  will  of  the  Lord." 

IX 

There  is  another  word  to  be  noted  in  Peter's  instant 
refusal  to  obey  the  Voice  that  spoke  to  him  in  the 
vision.  "  I  have  never  eaten  " — what  ?  "  Anything 
common."  And  if  in  the  preceding  words  we  catch 
the  tone  of  religious  conservatism,  in  this  even  more 
significant  word  we  hear  the  speech  of  religious  aris- 
tocracy. The  opposite  of  common,  as  this  thorough- 
going Jew  used  the  word,  was  hallowed,  religiously 
set  apart.  Flesh  of  quadrupeds,  for  example,  that 
chewed  the  cud  and  parted  the  hoof  was  hallowed  flesh 
— it  might  be  eaten  by  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Israel ; 


76  VISION  AND  POWER 

flesh  of  other  quadrupeds  was  unhallowed,  eommon — 
it  might  not  be  eaten  by  them. 

But  this  was  not  the  chief  matter.  The  eating  of 
only  hallowed  meats  by  Israel,  while  other  peoples  ate 
also  the  common,  or  unhallowed,  became  an  occasion  of 
evil  as  well  as  good.  Through  its  proper  use,  it  acted 
indeed  as  a  preventive  of  contamination  by  the  gross 
idolatries  of  neighbouring  peoples.  But  in  fact  it  was 
overused,  which  is  to  say,  abused;  and  through  this 
abuse  it  wrought  contempt  of  the  Gentiles  as  people 
whom  God  had  decreed  not  to  accept  or  care  for.  Israel 
only  was  elect,  holy,  the  spiritual  aristocracy  of  the 
world  and  the  ages.  All  other  peoples  were  "  com- 
mon," unhallowed. 

It  was  the  same  spirit  in  which  the  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  Israel  themselves  have,  through  long  centuries, 
been  dealt  with  in  Christendom.  The  race  to  which 
we  owe  both  the  Old  and  the  N'ew  Testament,  both 
the  prophets  and  the  Apostles,  and  of  whom  according 
to  the  flesh  came  our  Lord  and  Saviour  himself,  has 
been  treated  by  so-called  Christian  peoples  and  people 
with  notorious  injustice  and  contempt.  Somewhat  simi- 
larly has  this  or  that  church  of  Christendom  been  taught 
by  its  leaders  to  look  down  upon  others  as  ecclesiastically 
"  common "  and  not  to  be  recognized  as  churches  of 
Christ  at  all.  It  is  the  anti-Christian  spirit  of  arro- 
gance and  pride,  unchanged  under  all  its  changing 
forms,  with  which  both  social  and  ecclesiastical  life 
have  been  corrupted  even  until  now. 

As  concerns  Simon  Peter  there  at  Joppa,  however, 
thus  much  at  least  is  certain :  He  wanted  to  be  a  Chris- 


THE  VISION  77 

tian  disciple  as  in  days  gone  bj.  But  many  had  been 
the  questions  and  answers,  habitual  the  speaking  and 
listening  between  his  Lord  and  himself  in  those  blessed 
days ;  and  might  it  not  somehow  be  so  still  ?  For  he  is 
now  a  disciple  with  the  added  task  of  active  apostleship 
on  his  heart.  His  need  is  greater  than  ever.  He  must 
know;  and  the  world  beyond  the  veil  seems  not  far 
off.  Oh,  that  its  light  might  glimmer  through  the  veil ! 
He  will  pray  for  it.  He  will  seek  guidance.  "  I  will 
ask,"  we  imagine  him  saying,  "  whether  the  old  bot- 
tles are  intended  to  hold  the  new  wine  of  the  king- 
dom." He  turns  away  from  all  else  and  draws  near 
to  God,  even  to  "  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  according  to  his  great  mercy  begat 
us  again  unto  a  living  hope  by  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead."  * 

So  it  came  to  pass  ere  long,  as  we  shall  see,  that  the 
"  I  have  never  "  of  this  disciple  with  the  heart  as  well 
as  the  commission  of  an  apostle  was  changed  into  a 
cheerful  "  Who  was  I  that  I  could  withstand  God  ?  " 

The  Apostle  Paul  spoke  no  word  of  deeper  spiritual 
meaning,  in  his  description  of  the  equipment  for  Chris- 
tian warfare,  than  when  he  said,  "  with  all  prayer 
and  supplication  praying  at  all  seasons  in  the  Spirit." 
May  we  not  believe  that  when  his  earlier  called  brother 
apostle,  in  his  defence  before  the  church  in  Jerusalem, 
said,  "  I  was  in  the  city  of  Joppa  praying"  it  was  of 
such  a  prayer  that  he  told  ?  "  In  the  Spirit  "  he  was 
lifted  up,  rapt,  into  a  state  of  devotional  exaltation 

•  I  Peter  1 :  3. 


78  VISION  AND  POWER 

above  even  the  awareness  of  surrounding  objects.  Not 
only  did  the  curtains  of  the  eye  shut  out  the  whole 
image-world  of  visible  things — the  housetop,  the  fruit- 
ful land,  the  unresting  sea,  the  silent  overbrooding  sky 
in  its  noontide  glory.  That  is  essentially  an  every- 
day experience.  But  the  sensorium  itself  lapsed  into 
a  heavy  sleep,  while  the  praying  soul,  insensitive  to 
everything  else,  became  all  the  more  responsive  to  cer- 
tain forms  of  the  Spirit's  teaching. 

Then,  in  this  ecstatic  state,  there  came  an  answer 
not  simply  or  chiefly  to  the  present  prayer  of  his  lips, 
but  to  the  prayer  of  his  whole  discipleship  with  Jesus 
the  Christ.    "  In  a  trance  I  saw  a  vision." 

What  did  this  answering  vision  mean  ? 


IV 
THE  INTERPRETATION^ 

Now  while  Peter  was  much  perplexed  in  himself  what 
the  vision  which  he  had  seen  might  mean,  behold,  the 
men  that  were  sent  by  Cornelius,  having  made  inquiry 
for  Simon's  house,  stood  before  the  gate  and  called  and 
asked  whether  Simon  who  was  surnamed  Peter  were 
lodging  there. — Acts  10:  17,  18. 

And  Cornelius  was  waiting  for  them,  having  called 
together  his  kinsmen  and  his  near  friends. — Acts  10:  24. 

Now  therefore  we  are  all  here  present  in  the  sight  of 
God,  to  hear  all  things  that  have  been  commanded  thee 
of  the  Lord.— Acts  10:  33. 

THE  vision  was  not  self-explanatory.  Like  any 
symbol,  it  called  for  an  interpreter.  Indeed, 
does  not  practically  all  our  knowledge  come  to 
us  in  some  sort  of  symbolic  form  ?  What  is  speech,  for 
instance,  but  the  use  of  certain  invented  symbols  to  be 
interpreted?  Chiefly  conventional  sounds  which  this 
or  that  race  of  people  have  somehow  through  thousands 
of  years  agreed  upon,  they  have  to  be  learned  afresh 
by  every  little  child,  and  translated  into  the  ideas  they 
stand  for  by  the  mind  which  is  back  of  every  ear  upon 
which  they  fall.  A  good  part  of  our  time  every  day 
is  spent  in  listening;  which  means  that  it  is  spent 
in  rendering  for  ourselves  the  words  of  our  mother 
tongue,  as  used  more  or  less  accurately  by  this  or  that 
person,  not  indeed  into  the  words  of  some  foreign 
tongue,  but  into  their  own  interfused  ideas. 

79 


80  VISION  AND  POWER 

"  An  easy  sort  of  translating  this/'  one  might  re- 
mark, "  that  goes  on  spontaneously  in  daily  conversa- 
tion between  even  the  humblest  minds."  To  be  sure, 
and  yet  it  is  an  art  so  difficult  as  never  to  be  perfectly 
learned.  Because  language  is  not  an  instrument  to  be 
used  with  the  mathematical  exactness  of  twice  two 
makes  four.  The  soul  is  too  deep  and  affluent,  too  re- 
sourceful, too  changeful,  to  be  able,  by  any  conceivable 
set  of  words,  to  communicate  its  ideas  and  emotions, 
with  infallible  exactness,  to  even  the  most  discerning 
fellow-soul.  "  No  rich  personality,"  it  has  been  said, 
"  has  ever  put  itself  wholly  into  speech."  Very  true ; 
but  neither  has  any  other.  It  is  not  only  the  poet  of 
his  age,  looking  upon  the  world-old  sea  breaking  at 
the  foot  of  its  crags,  who  cries — 

"  And  I  would  that  my  tongue  could  utter 
The  thoughts  that  arise  in  me." 

It  is  everybody's  cry.  In  the  poorest  personality  are 
depths  of  meaning  which  far  surpass  its  own  powers  of 
expression  or  any  man's  powers  of  discovery. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  such  true  communicating  done 
as  to  bring  about  that  personal  self-revelation,  one  to 
another,  in  which  the  possibility  and  joy  of  human 
society  consist.  Enough,  too,  is  it  not,  until  the  day 
of  those  finer  forms  of  converse  and  self-expression, 
unpicturable  now,  with  which  we  hope  to  be  entrusted 
hereafter  ? 


Note,  also,  that  a  large  part  of  language  is  sym- 
bolic  in  the   stricter   sense.      That    is   to   say,    it   is 


THE  INTERPRETATION  81 

metaphorical ;  for  a  metaphor  is  a  symbolic  image. 
And  in  this  case  a  double  interpretation  is  necessary: 
we  have  to  explain  to  ourselves  in  the  act  of  listening 
not  only  the  metaphorical  word,  but  also  the  image 
which  it  awakens  in  the  mind.  "  Knock,  and  it  shall 
be  opened  unto  you  " :  the  men  who  first  heard  these 
words  knew  what  they  all  meant,  let  us  suppose,  either 
taken  singly  or  united  in  a  sentence.  But  what  did 
the  image  of  the  knocking  hand  and  the  opening  door 
which,  at  the  utterance  of  these  words,  arose  in  the 
hearer's  mind,  what  did  that  image  mean?  It  was  for 
the  hearer  to  interpret. 

As  we  all  know,  a  marked  characteristic  of  our  Lord's 
way  of  teaching  was  his  constant  and  inimitable  use 
of  metaphor  and  parable.  He  was  often  misunder- 
stood, too,  even  by  the  innermost  circle  of  his  disciples. 
To  Jesus  himself  all  this  was  painfully  apparent  even 
unto  the  end.  "  Know  ye  not  this  parable  ?  "  "  Are 
ye  also  even  yet  without  understanding?  "  "  O  ye  of 
little  faith  .  .  .  how  is  it  that  ye  do  not  perceive  that 
I  spake  not  to  you  concerning  bread  ?  " 

Yet  it  was  the  perfect  way  of  teaching — "  perfection 
beyond  compare,"  as  Tennyson  said  of  the  Master's 
parables.  Is  it  not  everywhere  shown  to  be  the  Divine 
method  ?  "  It  is  the  glory  of  God  to  conceal  a  thing ;  " 
but  the  faithful  soul,  through  searching  out  such  "  a 
matter,"  comes  ere  long  to  know  it  indeed.  For  a 
man  must  needs  have  the  chief  part  to  do  in  his  own 
education.  Knowledge  is  an  acquisition,  not  a  gift. 
Every  truly  instructed  man  is  self -instructed.  We  are 
to  get  knowledge,  which  means  to  obtain  it  by  effort. 


82  VISION  AND  POWER 

Only  thus  is  it  that  the  mind,  thinking,  endeavouring, 
praying,  doing,  assimilates  the  bread  of  truth  and  is 
prepared  to  grow  thereby. 

Indolent  souls  that  we  are,  how  we  do  have  to  be 
stung  into  mental  exertion.  Creeping  on  in  our  own 
easy  way,  we  should  only  make  our  intellectual  infancy 
perpetual.  Rejoice  and  give  thanks,  ye  disciples  of 
the  Master,  for  the  stimulating  forms  as  well  as  the 
substance  of  his  holy  evangel.  Give  thanks  that  the 
Divine  library  of  the  Bible  invites  to  its  exposition  the 
best  thinking,  together  with  the  deepest  spiritual  in- 
sight, of  all  who  would  learn  ever  more  fully  the  heart 
and  will  of  God.  For  it  is  thus  in  each  single  life 
throughout  the  successive  generations  of  Bible  readers. 
Each  separate  learner  must  read  it  for  himself  and 
really  read  it. 

n 

The  vision  in  Joppa,  then,  was  a  thought-provoking 
symbol;  but  not  just  such  a  one  as  those  metaphors 
and  parables  of  Jesus  which  had  so  often  fallen  upon 
the  ears  of  his  disciples.  Its  peculiarity  was  that,  with- 
out the  present  aid  of  any  of  the  senses,  it  was  made 
visible  and  audible  to  the  mind.  And  facing  such 
a  vision,  Peter,  who  was  the  foremost  questioner  of  the 
Master  in  those  days  when  he  could  speak  to  him  face 
to  face,  finds  himself  a  questioner  still. 

What  could  be  the  revelation  embodied  in  this  strange 
command  to  kill  and  eat? — that  was  the  wondering 
query  that  rose  in  his  mind.  Could  the  intended  les- 
son be  that  the  Mosaic  distinction  between  the  kinds 


THE  INTERPRETATION  83 

of  flesh  which  might  and  those  which  might  not  be 
eat€n  in  Israel  was  henceforth  to  be  disregarded,  that 
literally  both  clean  and  unclean  animals  might  now 
be  eaten  by  Jew  as  well  as  Gentile — this,  and  nothing 
more  ?  Was  there  no  deeper  truth  ?  Or,  was  it  a 
revelation  of  religious  truth  at  all  ?  Might  it  not 
have  been  a  meaningless  dream,  a  fantasy  that  had 
crept  into  the  mind  through  an  overtasked  and  sleep- 
ing brain?  On  this  point,  however,  Peter  seems  to 
have  entertained  no  doubt.  He  knew  the  vision  to 
have  been  given  of  God,  and  with  some  momentous 
meaning  for  its  percipient.  The  only  question  was, 
What  meaning? 

'A  master  artist  may  put  upon  a  few  feet  of  canvas 
the  best  that  he  has  thought  and  felt  in  a  lifetime. 
Your  eye  is  caught  by  the  painting  and  held  with  a 
mild,  yet  persistent,  fascination.  There  is  a  great 
meaning  in  those  wonderful  fashionings  of  form  and 
blendings  of  colors ;  and  yet  to  you  it  is  perhaps  a  hid- 
den meaning.  To  declare  that  it  is  otherwise  would  be 
sheer  affectation.  You  must  think  and  ponder,  enter- 
ing by  sympathy  into  the  creative  artist-mind,  before 
the  very  soul  of  the  picture  comes  forth  at  length  to 
greet  you  like  the  morning.  Somehow  thus,  we  may 
imagine,  did  the  spiritual  truth  and  purpose  of  his 
vision  attract  the  quick  responsive  spirit  of  Peter,  while 
he  must  still  do  whatever  lay  in  his  power  to  find  out 
more  distinctly  what  that  truth  and  purpose  might  be. 

Like  Moses,  who,  when  in  the  desert  of  Horeb  ho 
saw  the  burning  yet  unconsumed  bush,  "  looked  "  and 
"  beheld  "  and  said,  "  I  will  turn  aside  now  and  see 


84  VISION  AND  POWER 

this  great  sight,  why  the  bush  is  not  burnt,"  and  was 
thus  prepared  to  hear  the  voice  of  God,  who  loTieii  He 
"  saw  that  he  turned  aside  to  see,"  called  unto  him 
with  revealing  words  of  grace — like  that  first  great 
prophet  and  preacher  of  Israel,  this  first  Christian 
preacher,  on  the  housetop  at  the  seaside,  "  thought  " 
and  was  "  much  perplexed  "  at  what  he  had  seen,  and 
in  this  interested  and  reverently  inquiring  spirit  was 
able  to  receive  the  Divine  interpretation  of  his  vision. 

"Now,  one  might  believe  without  extravagance  that  if 
Peter  had  by  this  time  perfectly  understood  a  certain 
word  of  his  Master,  in  answer  to  a  request  once  made 
by  the  disciples,  he  would  have  had  no  need  of  this 
vision  in  Joppa.  The  request,  with  its  imperfectly 
understood  answer,  is  given  in  the  Gospel  according 
to  Mark,  which  has  sometimes  been  called  "  Peter's 
Gospel,"  because  of  the  strong  probability  that  it 
was  dictated  by  him  to  John  Mark,  his  sister's  son.  At 
any  rate,  Peter  could  never  have  forgotten  such  a  word 
of  Jesus ;  and  it  was  this :  "  There  is  nothing  without 
the  man  that  going  into  him  can  defile  him." 

It  is  a  saying  which,  like  many  of  the  Master's  say- 
ings, was  called  forth  by  the  occasion.  In  this  case 
some  Pharisees  and  Scribes  had  been  complaining  that 
the  disciples  had  eaten  bread  with  unwashed — that  is, 
with  ceremonially  unclean — hands.  In  the  eyes  of  those 
who  held  the  tradition  of  the  elders,  it  was  a  serious 
offence.  We  are  told,  for  example,  of  one  Eabbi  Akiba 
who,  while  suffering  imprisonment  under  the  Roman 
govermnent,  had  on  a  certain  occasion  an  insufficient 
supply  of  water  brought  him.     "  Give  me  water  for  my 


THE  INTERPRETATION  85 

hands,"  he  said.  And  on  being  informed  that  there 
was  "  scarcely  water  enough  to  drink,"  he  replied : 
"  What  shall  I  do  ?  It  is  better  for  me  to  die  than 
to  transgress  the  ordinances  of  my  ancestors."  But 
Jesus  answered  his  disciples'  critics  with  the  truth  that 
nothing  that  can  be  handled  or  put  into  the  mouth 
is  of  a  nature  to  defile  the  soul.  And  to  the  disciples 
it  was  a  dark  saying ;  so  they  "  asked  of  him  the  para- 
ble " — asked  its  meaning.  From  Matthew's  Gospel  we 
learn  that  their  spokesman  on  this  occasion  was  Peter 
— as  might  have  been  expected :  "  Peter  answered  and 
said  unto  him,  Declare  unto  us  the  parable."  Jesus' 
reply  was  that  no  eaten  food,  however  ceremonially 
unclean,  can  defile  a  man,  because  it  does  not  even 
come  into  contact  with  the  man  himself,  but  only  with 
his  body.  "  This  he  said,  making  all  meats  clean  " — 
declaring  their  cleanness. 

It  was  a  word  which  left  no  standing-ground  for  the 
tradition  of  the  elders,  as  to  eating  bread  with  "  de- 
filed, that  is  unwashen,  hands."  'Nor  did  it  leave 
standing-ground  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  t«nporarily 
needful  distinction  in  the  written  law  between  clean 
and  unclean  meats.  In  the  mind  of  the  disciples,  could 
they  have  seen  it  in  the  whole  breadth  of  its  applica- 
tion, it  would  have  been  a  fatal  word  to  all  Jewish 
exclusivism. 

Xot  yet,  however,  had  Peter — nor  probably  any  other 
of  the  Eleven — grown  into  the  ability  to  make  so  broad 
an  application  of  such  a  "  parable."  But,  lo,  that 
very  parable  has  now  been  acted  before  his  inner  eye 
as  a  vision;  and  with  earnest  thought,  which  is  itself 


86  VISION  AND  POWER 

a  prayer  to  the  Father  of  lights,  he  seeks  at  once  an 
unveiling  of  its  hidden  idea. 

Ill 

"  Peter  was  much  perplexed  in  himself  what  the 
vision  which  he  had  seen  might  mean."  As  on  that 
more  memorable  day  when,  looking  into  the  tomb  of 
Jesus  and  finding  it  empty,  he  "  departed  to  his  home, 
wondering  at  that  which  was  come  to  pass,"  so  here 
in  the  sanctuary  which  he  had  found  on  the  housetop 
in  Joppa  he  was  in  perplexity  as  to  what  might  be  the 
meaning  of  that  which  had  been  shown  him ;  and  "  he 
thought  on  the  vision." 

And  in  such  thoughtful,  questioning  wonder,  let  it 
be  remarked,  this  seer  of  Jesus  Christ  was  showing 
himself  akin  to  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the  prophets 
who  went  before  him.  For  they,  too,  knew  what  it 
was  to  be  perplexed  and  to  think  on  a  vision.  As  he 
himself  afterward  said  of  them  in  his  First  Epistle, 
they  searched  into  what  the  Spirit  of  Christ  that  was 
in  them  pointed  to,  "  when  it  testified  beforehand  the 
sufferings  of  Christ  and  the  glories  that  should  follow 
them."  *  What  is  its  significance  ?  was  a  question  of 
theirs,  even  as  it  was  of  his,  concerning  the  form  in 
which  a  great  truth  of  redemption  was  set  forth.  Com- 
pare, also,  the  example  of  Paul  after  his  vision  of 
the  Man  of  Macedonia.  "  And  when  he  had  seen  the 
vision,"  says  Luke,  one  of  his  three  travelling  compan- 
ions, "  straightway  we  sought  to  go  forth  into  Mace- 
donia, concluding  (fit^a^ovte?,  gathering  the  facts  to- 

*I  Peter  1:  11. 


THE  INTERPRETATION  87 

gether  in  our  minds  and  drawing  a  conclusion  from 
them)  that  God  had  called  us  to  preach  the  gospel  unto 
them." 

This,  it  might  be  noted,  would  not  have  been  the 
way  of  a  mere  enthusiast.  Such  a  percipient  would 
hardly,  like  Peter  and  Paul,  have  thought  on  the  vision 
and  tried  even  in  much  perplexity  of  mind  to  under- 
stand its  language.  He  would  have  yielded  himself 
up  to  whatever  extraordinary  impression  it  might  have 
made  upon  his  sensibilities.  A  false  religious  mysti- 
cism, for  example,  might  have  held  the  trance  and 
vision  very  dear,  but  it  would  not  have  encouraged  the 
exercise  of  the  reason  upon  it.  The  endeavor  of  a 
mystic  of  this  type  is  to  do  nothing.  He  would  fain 
quit  both  thinking  and  willing.  He  would  become 
utterly  passive.  He  would  use  no  means  either  of 
grace  or  of  knowledge.  He  would  even  lose  the  sense 
of  personality,  vainly  dreaming  that  thus  the  soul  may 
sink  away  into  that  union  with  God  which  is  the  per- 
fection of  life  and  being.  Such  mediaeval  phrases  as, 
"  purity  of  spirit  and  nudity  of  mind,"  "  the  ineffable 
ti'anscendence  of  all  knowledge  and  thought,"  "  we 
die  in  God  to  ourselves  and  to  all  separate  individu- 
ality," seem  to  be  fairly  typical  of  the  lawless  thought 
of  mysticism  run  mad. 

But  is  not  this  too  mad  and  manifest  an  error  to 
be  deserving  of  notice  ?  It  might  indeed  seem  to 
be  such;  but  in  some  of  its  milder  forms  traces  of 
it  now  and  then  appear  at  our  own  doors.  I  have 
known  a  young  Christian  preacher,  my  friend  and  com- 
rade, bright-minded  and  sweet-spirited,  the  pastor  of 


88  VISION  AND  POWER 

a  congregation,  who,  to  satisfy  a  mistaken  idea  of  spir- 
itual perfection,  gave  up  the  habit  of  making  prepa- 
ration for  the  pulpit.  "  I  used  to  do  it,"  he  said  to 
a  friend,  "  but  I  have  quit  that  foolishness."  Appar- 
ently he  would  have  given  himself  up  quite  passively, 
without  the  use  of  means,  without  the  exercise  of  judg- 
ment, reasoning,  imagination,  any  intellectual  faculty, 
either  before  or  in  the  act  of  preaching — would  fain 
have  given  himself  up  thus  as  a  mouthpiece  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  It  wrought  weakness  and  confusion 
in  an  effective  evangelic  ministry. 

But  the  true  Christian  mysticism  is  not  so.  It  may 
be  defined  in  a  word  as  personal  Christian  experience, 
which  is  the  consciousness  of  Divine  life  in  the  soul. 
Needless  to  say,  the  authoritative  proof  and  illustra- 
tion of  it  is  in  the  New  Testament.  Paul  testifies 
concerning  it,  as  when  he  says,  "  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but 
Christ  lives  in  me,"  and  John,  as  when  he  declares: 
"  Hereby  we  know  that  we  abide  in  Him  and  He  in 
us,  because  he  hath  given  us  of  his  Spirit."  Not  un- 
truly has  it  been  described  as  the  "  very  heart  of  reli- 
gion "  and  the  "  very  soul  of  all  most  effective 
preaching."  * 

There  have  been  periods  in  the  history  of  Christian 
churches  when  religion,  losing  its  inner  life,  degen- 
erated into  a  mere  confessional  orthodoxy  and  an  ob- 
servance of  rites  of  worship,  with  more  or  less  of 
intellectual  religious  activity  and  seemliness  of  out- 
ward conduct.  Then  perhaps  would  be  heard  the  voice 
of  the  Christian  mystic,  as  a  restorer  of  paths  to  dwell 

*  Brastow,  "  The  Modern  Pulpit,"  p.  11. 


THE  INTERPRETATION  89 

in — probably  a  very  plain  man,  a  Luther,  a  Spener,  a 
Bernard  Gilpin,  an  Otterbein — to  win  back  the  people 
to  the  truth  and  spirituality  of  the  gospel. 

But  such  a  voice,  unless  it  were  greatly  over-strained 
and  spoiled,  would  not  belittle  the  confession  of  the 
Christian  faith,  or  the  rites  of  worship,  or  the  activity 
of  the  intellect,  or  practical  ideas  and  employments.  It 
would  quicken  all  these  with  a  true  life  from  within. 
It  would  show  them  to  be  not  hindrances,  but  means 
and  manifestations  of  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul.  The 
mystical  an  enemy  to  the  rational  ?  On  the  contrary, 
each  needs  and  serves  the  other,  twin  imperial  powers 
of  the  soul. 

With  them  both,  the  mystical  and  the  rational,  must 
the  Christian  preacher  be  equipped,  now  as  ever  in 
the  past.  For  here  in  his  hands  are  the  records  of 
what  evangelists  and  apostles  saw  in  the  kingdom  of 
God.  Here,  in  the  language  in  which  they  were  writ- 
ten and  in  his  own  present-day  language,  are  the  books 
of  the  vision  of  God  in  Jesus.  Shall  not  the  man 
who  is  distinctively  to  tell  and  interpret  them  to  others 
be  himself  a  student  of  them  ?  ]N"ot  by  courtesy  but  in 
some  genuine  sense  of  the  word  shall  he  not  be,  with 
head  and  heart,  a  Bible  student  ? 

"  I  shall  never  forget,"  says  Phillips  Brooks,  in  his 
"  Lectures  on  Preaching,"  "  my  first  experience  of  a 
divinity  school.  I  had  come  from  a  college  where  men 
studied  hard  but  said  nothing  about  faith.  I  had  never 
been  at  a  prayer-meeting  in  my  life.  The  first  place 
I  was  taken  to  at  the  seminary  was  the  prayer-meeting ; 
and  never  shall  I  lose  the  impression  of  the  devout- 


90  VISION  AND  POWER 

ness  with  which  those  men  prayed  and  exhorted  one 
another.  Their  whole  souls  seemed  exalted  and  their 
natures  were  on  fire.  I  sat  bewildered  and  ashamed, 
and  went  away  depressed.  On  the  next  day  I  met  some 
of  those  same  men  at  a  Greek  recitation.  It  would  be 
little  to  say  of  some  of  the  devoutest  of  them  that  they 
had  not  learnt  their  lessons.  Their  whole  way  showed 
that  they  never  learnt  their  lessons;  that  they  had  not 
got  hold  of  the  first  principles  of  hard,  faithful,  con- 
scientious study."  What  spiritual  powers  are  those 
which  the  Maker  of  intellect  and  spirit  would  have  us 
exercise  to  the  neglect  or  contempt  of  the  powers  of 
thought?  Kinship  there  is  none  between  spiritual 
activity  and  mental  laziness. 

In  truth,  to  look  upon  any  power  of  our  being  with 
contempt  or  suspicion,  as  if  it  were  an  evil  thing,  is 
to  profane  the  handiwork  and  gift  of  Almighty  God. 
Our  reason,  it  is  a  higher  expression  of  the  Eternal  Rea- 
son than  are  the  heavens  in  all  their  splendour.  Our 
will,  its  goal  of  perfection  is  not  to  be  lost  in  God, 
but  to  have  holy  fellowship  with  him. 


Jesu8,  confirm  my  heart's  desire 
To  work  and  speak  and  think  for  thee. 

Still  let  me  guard  the  holy  fire 
And  still  stir  up  thy  gift  in  me." 


That  is  Christian  mysticism. 


IV 


^Now  we  have  seen  reason  for  an  opinion  as  to  what 
Peter,    thinking   on   the   vision,   would   have  done    if 


THE  INTERPRETATION  91 

the  Master  had  been  there  in  the  flesh.  He  would  have 
asked  him  what  the  vision  meant.  Was  not  this,  in 
fact,  the  habit  of  the  whole  company  of  disciples  in 
those  sacred  vanished  days  when  they  talked  with  him 
face  to  face  ?  "  And  his  disciples  asked  him  what  this 
parable  might  be;  "  "  And  they  were  astonished  exceed- 
ingly, saying  unto  him,  Then  who  can  be  saved  ? " 
"  Peter  and  James  and  John  and  Andrew  asked  him 
privately.  Tell  us,  when  shall  these  things  be  ?  " 

Even  in  his  discourse  in  the  upper  room  on  the  even- 
ing of  his  betrayal,  Jesus  was  interrupted  (if  that  be 
the  proper  word)  by  repeated  questioning.  "  Lord,  who 
is  it  ?  "  asked  John — at  Peter's  request.  "  Lord, 
whither  goest  thou  ?  "  asked  Peter.  "  Lord,  we  know 
not  whither  thou  goest,  and  how  can  we  know  the  way  ?  " 
asked  Thomas.  "  Lord,  what  is  come  to  pass,  that  thou 
wilt  manifest  thyself  unto  us  and  not  unto  the  world  ?  " 
asked  Judas  the  brother  of  James.  And  it  was  in  this 
very  discourse  that  Jesus  called  them  "  friends."  He 
wished  them  to  ask  explanations  of  him  as  a  friend 
might  ask  of  a  revered  and  beloved  friend — as  a  bond- 
servant, a  slave,  was  not  permitted  to  do.  Their  Lord, 
Teacher,  Friend,  would  win  his  disciples  to  the  habit  of 
prayer. 

Had  opportunity  been  given,  therefore,  this  quick- 
speaking  brother,  just  now  awakened  out  of  a  trance 
in  which  he  had  so  strangely  been  bidden  to  eat  the 
clean  and  the  unclean  alike,  would  doubtless  have  asked 
the  Master's  explanation.  And  the  answer,  if  we  may 
reverently  venture  to  guess,  would  have  been  a  pro- 
gressive answer — first,  enough  for  the  disciple's  pres- 


92  VISION  AND  POWER 

ent  guidance,  afterward  a  fuller  revelation  of  the 
truth. 

Such  was  the  answer,  certainly,  to  the  impetuous 
prayer  of  this  same  questioner  in  the  upper  room  at 
the  Lord's  Supper.  When  Jesus,  we  remember,  girded 
with  a  towel  and  bearing  a  bason  of  water  in  his 
hand,  like  one  that  serves,  was  washing  the  disciples' 
feet,  Peter,  as  it  came  to  be  his  turn,  was  quick 
with  protest  and  interrogation.  "  Dost  thou  wash  my 
feet  ?  "  Jesus  calmly  assured  him  that  an  explanation 
would  be  given  in  due  season :  "  What  I  do  thou  know- 
est  not  now,  but  thou  shalt  understand  hereafter."  How 
soon  thereafter?  First  of  all,  in  a  few  minutes.  For 
when  the  Lord,  having  finished  his  ininistration  as  a 
servant-host  to  the  disciples  whom  he  loved,  sat  down 
among  them  once  more,  he  said :  "  Ye  call  me  Teacher 
and  Lord  [it  was  of  their  own  mind  and  will  they  did 
it],  and  ye  say  well,  for  such  I  am.  If  I,  then,  the 
Lord  and  the  Teacher,  have  washed  your  feet,  ye  also 
ought  to  wash  one  another's  feet.  For  I  have  given  you 
an  example,  that  ye  should  do  as  I  have  done  to  you." 

With  this  explanation  they  were  somewhat  able  to 
understand  what  their  Master  had  done  unto  them. 
They  saw  that,  in  a  manner  most  marvellous,  he  had 
taught  them  the  lesson  of  ministering  love.  But  this 
was  not  the  whole  answer.  For  when,  through  the 
teaching  of  the  unseen  Spirit  of  truth,  light  was  thrown 
back  from  the  Cross  and  Resurrection  upon  all  the 
antecedent  acts  of  Jesus,  greater  than  ever  appeared  the 
unfolding  mystery  of  the  Divine  love,  as  set  forth  in 
all  that  the  Son  of  God  had  done  at  that  last  supper 


THE  INTERPRETATION  93 

with  those  whom  he  had  chosen  as  its  witnesses.  Think 
what  it  must  have  meant  then  to  remember  and  say: 
"  It  was  in  very  truth  the  Highest,  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh,  who,  in  love  that  would  not  let  us  go,  took, 
even  toward  such  as  we,  the  household  servant's  place." 

So  it  was  a  progressive  revelation  of  himself  in  one- 
ness with  the  Father,  and  of  the  new  commandment 
of  love  and  service  ("  as  I  have  done  to  you  ")  that 
lay  enshrined  in  Jesus'  word  of  promise,  "  Thou  shalt 
understand  hereafter." 

Similar  was  the  explanation  of  the  symbolic  vision 
in  Joppa  whose  meaning  Peter  was  thoughtfully  and 
prayerfully  asking  for.  First  of  all,  it  was  given  in 
a  very  little  while.  For  in  the  midst  of  Peter's  pon- 
dering and  perplexity  an  answer  is  hastening  on.  Fuller 
answers  will  follow  later,  but  well  fitted  to  the  present 
need  is  the  answer  even  now  at  hand.  Downstairs  at 
the  gate,  men  are  heard  inquiring  for  a  certain  Simon 
Peter — Gentile  inquirers.  Peter,  alone  on  the  house- 
top, may  not  have  heard  them ;  but  a  voice  within,  the 
voice  of  the  Spirit,  bade  him  go  down  and  meet  the 
callers  and  go  confidently  with  them.  They  were  three 
men,  two  of  them  servants  of  Cornelius  the  Roman 
captain  at  Caesarea,  and  the  third  a  devout  soldier  be- 
longing to  his  retinue;  and  they  bore  from  him  an 
urgent  inspired  request  that  Peter  would  come  to  him 
with  "  words." 

This,  then,  cannot  but  be  the  interpretation  of  the 
vision — so  the  perplexed  apostle  thought — namely,  that 
God  had  cleansed  the  Gentiles,  had  declared  that  they 
were  no  longer  to  be  treated  as  ceremonially  unclean. 


94  VISION  AND  POWER 

Being  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  he  must  go  to  them 
even  in  their  houses,  when  opportunity  offers,  and  with 
such  words  as  may  be  given  him  to  speak.  Is  he  not 
already  a  guest  in  the  house  of  the  Levitically  unclean 
Simon?  So  he  makes  bold  to  do  the  un-Jewish  act 
of  lodging  these  three  Gentile  messengers  overnight; 
and  so  again  he  will  even  fare  forth  to-morrow  with 
them  toward  the  home  of  a  non-proselyted  Roman  sol- 
dier. He  was  in  a  fair  way  to  learn,  through  obedi- 
ence to  the  Spirit  of  truth,  that  great  law  of  life  which 
he  should  afterward  write  down  for  the  Christian  broth- 
erhood— "  Honour  all  men."  * 


As  both  Joppa  and  Csesarea  were  coast  towns,  ship^ 
ping  ports  for  foreign  commerce,  it  might  not  unrea- 
sonably have  been  guessed  that  in  both  of  them  the 
foreign — ^which  is  to  say,  the  Gentile — population  would 
predominate.  This  was  not  true,  however,  of  Joppa. 
That  little  city,  though  it  had  not  wholly  escaped  the 
contamination  of  heathenism,  was  decidedly  Jewish. 
It  was  the  seaport  of  Jerusalem — as  indeed  it  is  still — 
and  shared  in  Jerusalem's  intense  spirit  of  patriotism. 

But  Csesarea,  about  thirty  or  forty  miles  to  the 
north,  was  more  of  a  Gentile  city  than  any  other  along 
the  whole  coast  line  of  Palestine.  It  was  not  an  old 
city,  but  had  been  built  under  the  Roman  rule — built  by 
Herod  the  Great,  and  named  by  him  after  his  master, 
Augustus  Caesar.  It  was  the  residence  of  the  Roman 
governor  of  Judea — of  Pontius  Pilate,  for  instance,  at 

*I  Peter  2:  17. 


THE  INTERPRETATION  95 

the  time  of  the  crucifixion.  The  institutions  and  ideas 
of  the  Gr£eco-Roman  civilization — theatre,  amphithea- 
tre, temple,  altars,  idolatrous  worship — prevailed.  Jews 
were  there,  of  course,  but  even  they,  in  the  synagogue 
worship,  read  their  Scriptures  in  the  Greek  language. 

Peter  might  easily,  therefore,  have  felt  himself  at 
home  in  Joppa  and  a  stranger  in  C^sarea  Palestina. 
Nevertheless,  northward  through  the  plain  of  Sharon 
to  Caesarea  he  is  now  journeying.  And  it  is  on  a  mis- 
sion to  those  whom  at  one  time  in  his  life — ^before 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  had  found  him,  let  us  hope — he 
would  no  doubt  have  spoken  of  with  hasty  contempt 
as  "  Gentile  dogs."  Yes,  this  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews 
is  now  on  his  way  to  Csesarea,  on  his  way  with  "  words  " 
to  the  home  of  a  Gentile.  For  a  great  barrier-breaking 
word  has  been  spoken  to  him  from  on  high — "  Unto  me 
God  hath  shown  that  I  should  not  call  any  man  common 
or  unclean." 

Here  began  the  Christianity  of  the  nations.  And 
certainly  no  more  fitting  person  could  have  been  its 
witness-bearer  than  the  foremost  of  the  Twelve  who 
had  followed  the  Lord  Jesus.  "  Brethren,"  said  he  to 
the  council  in  Jerusalem,  "  ye  know  that  a  good  while 
ago  God  made  choice  among  you  that  by  my  mouth  the 
Gentiles  should  hear  the  word  of  the  gospel,  and  be- 
lieve." "  God  made  choice  among  you."  It  was  a 
Divine  election. 

Nor  can  a  more  fitting  place  be  imagined  for  this 
new  beginning  of  the  gospel  than  the  city  which  was 
virtually  the  Roman  capital  of  Palestine.  We  recall 
that  David  chose  his  capital  at  Jerusalem,  Jeroboam 


96  VISION  AND  POWER 

his  at  Shechem,  and  Omri  his  at  the  city  of  Samaria, 
all  inland  cities,  which  well  represented  the  national 
idea  of  security  and  defence.  For  Israel  was  not  to 
be  aggressive.  On  the  other  hand,  the  national  idea 
of  Rome  almost  from  the  beginning  had  been  dis- 
tinctly that  of  aggression.  Rome  was  to  be  a  colossal 
world-power.  And  this  idea  was  equally  well  repre- 
sented in  her  subject  territory  of  Palestine  by  the 
capital  city  of  Csesarea  at  the  seaside;  for  here  was  a 
harbor  for  her  ships,  keeping  military  and  mercantile 
communication  open  with  the  imperial  City;  and  from 
here  she  could  most  effectually  bear  rule  over  an  ever- 
turbulent  people. 

But  the  hour  has  now  struck  that  calls  the  New  Israel 
to  take  the  aggressive.  With  a  programme  and  a  pur- 
pose compared  with  which  that  of  the  mightiest  of 
world-powers  dwindles  into  meanness,  she  must  go 
forth  to  conquer  the  Roman  people  and  all  other  peo- 
ples, with  the  word  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel.  And 
what  we  see  in  Csesarea  i^  the  opening  of  her  many- 
centuried  campaign  at  the  representative  seat  of  the 
pagan  power  in  the  land  of  her  birth. 

VI 

Now  Cornelius,  though  not  a  proselyte  to  Judaism, 
was  a  worshipper  of  God.  Moreover,  there  is  no  doubt 
that,  like  many  another  Gentile  of  the  time,  he  was 
indebted  to  Judaism  for  his  religious  faith.  Not  of 
course  that  the  Jews  then  residing  in  Greek  and  Roman 
cities  were,  in  any  positive  sense,  missionaries  of 
monotheism.    They  seem  to  have  had  little  or  no  sense 


THE  INTERPRETATION  97 

of  such  a  mission.  They  were  more  nearly  the  spir- 
itual kin  of  Jonah  than  of  Isaiah.  Yet,  whether  or 
not  these  Jews  of  the  Dispersion  felt  themselves  en- 
trusted with  the  truth  of  God  for  others'  sake,  there  in 
the  Gentile  cities  stood  their  synagogues,  which  were 
houses  of  teaching ;  and  Gentiles  were  not  forbidden  to 
enter.  Paul,  for  example,  in  his  missionary  tours, 
found  both  Jews  and  Greeks  in  the  synagogues — in  that 
of  Iconium,  in  that  of  Athens,  and  in  that  of  Thessa- 
lonica  where  "  devout  Greeks  a  great  multitude  "  be- 
lieved his  word. 

Accordingly,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  Cornelius — say,  in 
young  manhood — dissatisfied  with  the  paganism  in 
which  he  had  been  brought  up,  finding  his  way  to  such 
a  house  of  worship  and  instruction,  taking  an  incon- 
spicuous seat,  listening  to  the  reading  of  the  Law  and 
the  Prophets.  Why  should  he  not  come  and  come 
again  to  hear  these  Scriptures?  For  where  had  he 
ever  heard  anything  comparable  thereto?  They  ap- 
pealed to  his  reason  and  met  the  hunger  of  his  heart. 
Away  went  the  mythologies  and  the  barren  philosophies, 
now  that  he  had  found  the  one  true  and  personal  God. 

By  submitting  to  the  Jewish  rites  Cornelius  might 
have  become  a  member  of  the  synagogue,  a  proselyte, 
and  enjoyed  all  its  privileges.  These,  however,  he 
does  not  seem  to  have  asked  for.  But  he  was  a  seeker 
of  God;  and  in  the  holy  oracles  of  Judaism  he  found 
him  whom  he  sought,  and  became,  Roman  soldier  and 
captain  of  a  rude  soldiery  as  he  was,  "  a  devout  man, 
and  one  that  feared  God  with  all  his  house,  who  gave 
much  alms  to  the  people,  and  prayed  to  God  alway." 


98  VISION  AND  POWER 

Prayed  for  what?  Tor  more  light;  because  it  is 
he  who  has  that  wants,  and  to  him,  having  and  want- 
ing, it  shall  be  given  more  abundantly.  Divers  good 
gifts  this  devout  soldier  prayed  for,  no  doubt;  but 
we  have  evidence  that  the  perfect  boon  of  a  larger 
knowledge  of  God  was  the  chief  of  them.  This  he 
desired  most  of  all.  For  when  in  vision  the  angel  of 
God  bade  him  send  to  Joppa  for  Simon  Peter,  who 
was  to  bring  him  a  message  of  the  Divine  self- 
revelation  in  Jesus,  the  word  was,  "  Cornelius,  thy 
prayer  is  heard/*  This,  then,  was  his  prayer,  con- 
scious, unconscious,  but  deepest  and  most  real  of  all 
the  hungering  of  his  spirit — to  know  God  as  He  had 
been  made  known  in  Jesus  and  to  have  his  family, 
''  all  his  house,"  sharers  with  him  in  such  spiritual 
vision. 

In  fact,  Cornelius  and  the  others  had  already  known 
something  of  the  good  news  of  Jesus  Christ  that  had 
been  published  in  Galilee  and  throughout  Judea. 
"  That  saying  ye  yourselves  know,"  Peter  reminded 
them,  when  he  had  come  and  begun  to  speak  to  Cor- 
nelius' household  and  friends.  From  Philip  the  evan- 
gelist, then,  who  lived  in  Caesarea,*  or  from  some  other 
source,  this  earnest  and  devout  soul,  while  on  garri- 
son duty  in  the  city,  had  heard  reports  of  the  words, 
the  deeds,  the  cross  of  Jesus.  But  what  could  it  all 
mean?  Who  was  this  crucified  prophet  of  Galilee? 
What  greatest  word  had  he  spoken?  What  new  reve- 
lation of  God,  if  any,  had  he  brought?  And  what 
truth  might  be  contained  in  that  mystic  word  which 

*Act9   21:  8,   9. 


THE  INTERPRETATION  99 

had  been  reported  about  peace  by  Jesus  Christ?  Be 
glad  and  thankful,  Cornelius,  truth-lover  and  servant 
of  the  living  God,  for  "  thy  prayer  is  heard." 

And  now  the  apostle,  with  the  six  brethren  whom  he 
had  brought  from  Joppa  as  witnesses  of  what  might 
occur,  was  standing  in  the  house  of  the  centurion,  and 
asking  why  he  had  been  sent  for.  Cornelius  related 
the  story  of  his  vision,  and  concluded  with  the  pro- 
posal :  "  Now  therefore  we  are  all  here  present  in  the 
sight  of  God,  to  hear  all  things  that  have  been  com- 
manded thee  of  the  Lord."  Then  the  apostle  "  opened 
his  mouth  and  said  "— — 

VII 

But  let  us  linger  here  a  moment.  We  are  reminded 
of  the  word  spoken  some  years  before  in  Peter's  pres- 
ence (as  we  have  good  reason  to  believe)  near  the  lake- 
side in  Galilee,  concerning  a  brother  soldier  of  Cor- 
nelius— and  of  the  same  rank — ^the  centurion  stationed 
at  Capernaum,  who  had  built  the  Jews  their  synagogue 
in  that  city.  Jesus  marvelled  at  this  Gentile  soldier's 
faith — "  Only  say  the  word,  and  my  servant  shall  be 
healed  " — which  he  had  not  found  the  equal  of  even 
in  Israel.  Then,  as  if  looking  forth,  from  the  heights 
of  prophetic  vision,  unto  the  far-off  horizons  of  the 
world  and  far  down  the  highways  of  the  great  oncom- 
ing future,  he  declared :  "  1  say  unto  you  that  many 
shall  come  from  the  east  and  the  west,  and  shall  sit 
down  with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven."  Has  that  prophetic  word  just  now 
come  back  to  Simon  Peter,  with  the  illuminating  touch 


100  VISION  AND  POWER 

of  the  Spirit,  here  in  this  Roman  household  by  the 
Mediterranean  Sea  ?  Or  that  later  word,  uttered  a  few 
days  before  the  crucifixion,  when  it  was  told  Jesus 
that  certain  Greeks  who  had  come  to  the  passover  feast 
were  desirous  of  seeing  him,  and  Jesus  answered  and 
said,  "  The  hour  is  come  that  the  Son  of  man  should 
be  glorified.  .  .  .  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the 
earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  myself  " — was  that  word 
of  prophecy  brought  just  now  to  this  disciple's  remem- 
brance? It  may  have  been  so.  At  all  events,  here  are 
Gentiles  from  the  West,  a  centurion  in  the  Italian 
cohort  of  the  Roman  army  of  occupation,  with  his  house- 
hold, kinsmen,  and  friends,  coming  into  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

The  apostle  then  opened  his  mouth  and  said :  "  Of  a 
truth  I  perceive  [or,  I  am  perceiving']  that  God  is  no 
respecter  of  persons,  but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth 
him  and  worketh  righteousness  is  acceptable  to  him." 
The  larger  light  is  indeed  shining  on  "  what  the  vision 
which  he  had  seen  might  mean."  For  he  now  sees 
not  only  that  he  did  well  to  make  a  journey  of  forty 
miles  to  enter  into  the  house  of  a  praying  Gentile,  but 
also  that  this  man  is  verily  acceptable  to  God,  and  more- 
over stands  in  a  universal  representative  relation — that 
in  every  nation  men  like  him  are  acceptable  to  God. 
Here  is  the  interpretation  of  the  common  declared  to 
be  clean,  given  in  a  human  and  spiritual  outlook,  world- 
wide. "  I  am  perceiving  " — what  ?  Seekers  of  God, 
many  or  few,  Jethros  and  Jobs  and  Melehizedeks  and 
Wise  Men  of  the  East,  among  all  peoples — men  of 
Egypt,  Arabia,  Asia,  Macedonia,  Achaia,  Italy,  Spain, 


THE  INTERPRETATION  101 

China,  the  isles  of  the  sea — sons  of  light,  obedient  to 
what  of  the  highest  truth  they  know,  faithful  to  walk 
in  the  fear  of  God  and  in  righteousness  of  life,  and 
finding  acceptance  with  him, 

"  I  have  never  eaten  anything  that  is  common  " — 
have  never  associated  on  equal  terms  with  non-Jewish 
people.  Such  had  been  this  Galilean  Jew's  rule  of  life 
until  two  or  three  days  ago.  But  he  is  coming  now  to 
testify :  "  Unto  me  hath  God  showed  that  I  should  not 
call  any  man  common."  Which  is  to  say  that  the 
people  whom  the  Jew  had  been  turning  away  from 
as  "  common  "  were  his  own  brothers,  and  equally  pre- 
cious with  himself  to  God.  He  is  coming  to  see  that 
Jesus  of  ]^azareth  is  "  Lord  of  all/' 

Thus  the  ISTew  Testament,  as  it  is  written,  portion 
by  portion,  out  of  the  spiritual  experience  and  life  of 
that  day  of  Divine  revelation,  bears  concurrent  and 
unbroken  testimony  to  the  universality  of  the  Christian 
Congregation,  in  which  the  only  height  of  distinction 
is  that  of  humble  and  loving  service  in  the  name  of 
the  Son  of  Man.  In  this  light  of  Christ  every  human 
personality,  even  the  crudest  and  the  worst,  is  sacred. 

Common?  Such  a  descriptive  term  (hoivo?)  was  to 
be  lost,  as  men  learned  of  Christ,  in  the  higher  word 
(^HOivGovia)  com-munion,  com-munication,  fellow-ship, 
brother-hood. 

The  common  faith,*  the  common  salvation,!  the  com- 
mon life-sharing  in  the  gospel,$  the  sacredness  of  the 
soul  II — are  these  poor  and  mean  ideas?    The  one  Lord 

♦Titus  1:4.  J  Acts  2:42;   Philemon  1:5. 

t  Jude    3.  II  Acta  10:28. 


102  VISION  AND  POWER 

Jesus  Christ,  could  anybody  dream  of  thinking  of  him 
more  worthily  as  the  Saviour  of  a  nation  or  a  class, 
than  as  the  Elder  Brother  of  us  all,  who  tasted  death 
for  every  man? 

VIII 

Yet  there  be  some  who  are  ready  to  ask :  "  If,  then, 
those  who  in  non-Christian  lands  fear  God  and  live 
righteously  according  to  such  light  and  leading  as 
they  have  are  acceptable  to  him,  why  should  we  trou- 
ble ourselves  to  send  them  the  gospel  at  all  ?  "  Oh, 
narrow  and  blinding  conception  of  the  grace  and  truth 
that  have  come  by  Jesus  Christ.  To  suggest  that  the 
Christian  gospel  is  not  to  be  preached  everywhere  is 
to  imply  that  it  has  no  fulness  of  meaning  anywhere. 
It  is  to  make  the  offer  of  salvation  in  Christ  selective, 
local,  provincial,  sectional,  racial,  whereas  it  is  human 
and  spiritual  and  universal.  It  is  to  say,  on  the  one 
hand,  to  those  who  amid  idolatrous  fellows  and  sur- 
roundings are  feeling  after  the  living  God  if  haply 
they  may  find  him,  "  Your  prayer  is  not  to  be  heard." 
It  is  to  deny,  on  the  other  hand,  those  who,  content  with 
their  darkness,  are  making  no  effort  to  throw  off  the 
cruel  oppression  of  pagan  superstition,  it  is  to  deny 
them  that  heaven-sent  evangel  through  which  they,  too, 
may  be  awakened  to  seek  the  heavenly  Father  and 
welcome  the  good  tidings  of  peace  by  Jesus  Christ. 
In  a  word,  not  only  to  those  who  wish  it,  but  to  all  who 
need  it  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  Man  is  due. 

Accordingly,  when  this  disciple  whom  the  Lord  is 
making  a  missionary  stands  before  his  inquiring  little 


THE  INTERPRETATION  103 

Gentile  congregation,  to  speak  words  whereby  they 
shall  be  saved,  he  does  not  conclude  with  the  idea 
of  the  fear  of  God  and  the  working  of  righteousness. 
But  beginning  with  that  he  goes  on  to  preach  unto 
them  Jesus. 

This  is  that  which,  nay,  rather  this  is  He  whom,  the 
whole  world  needs — even  Jesus.  "  I  came  that  they 
may  have  life,  and  that  they  may  have  it  abundantly." 
To  what  people,  therefore,  near  or  far,  shall  his  Church 
hesitate  to  go,  in  obedience  to  his  command,  with  the 
words  of  this  life  ? 

But  there  are  other  visions,  as  personal  as  that  of 
Simon  Peter,  and  some,  we  may  believe,  as  trul;y  Divine. 
It  is  time  we  should  think  somewhat  on  them. 


VISIONS  AND  VISION 

I  was  in  the  city  of  Joppa  praying,  and  in  a  trance  I 
Baw  a  vision. — Acts  11:  5. 

•Of  a  truth  I  perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter  of 
persons;  but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  him  and 
worketh  righteousness  is  acceptable  to  him. — Acts  10: 
34,  35. 

NO  small  profit  may  be  gathered  from  the  story 
of  Peter's  vision,  if  it  shall  set  us  thinking  on 
visions  of  our  own.  Ours,  it  is  true,  are  not 
in  the  least  likely  to  be  given  in  a  trance.  Only  in 
exceptional  instances  has  a  state  of  ecstatic  self- 
consciousness  been  the  medium  of  the  Spirit's  teaching. 
Peter's  vision  from  the  housetop  was  one  such  instance ; 
but  the  visions  which  he  had  already  seen  with  his 
eyes  and  heard  with  his  ears,  in  daily  companionship 
with  the  Word  made  flesh,  were  more  than  he  could 
number.  And  although  we,  unlike  this  elect  witness- 
bearer,  have  not  enjoyed  the  singular  privilege  to  know 
Christ  after  the  flesh,  our  visions  of  the  unseen  and 
the  eternal  have  also  been  very  many. 


Not  that  we  have  always  "  thought  on  the  vision  " 
or  been  "  much  perplexed "  to  perceive  its  Divine 
meaning.  Too  often  doubtless  we  have  seen  and  heard 
with  the   senses   only,   or    at   best  with   the   intellect. 

104 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  105 

"  Blessed  are  your  eyes,"  said  tbe  Master  to  his  dis- 
ciples, "  for  they  see,  and  your  ears,  for  they  hear." 
But  it  was  to  these  same  disciples  that  he  also  said: 
"  Having  eyes,  see  ye  not  ?  and  having  ears,  hear  ye 
not  ?  "  The  senses  or  even  the  intellections  may  be 
quick  enough,  while  spiritual  discernment  lies  fast 
asleep. 

Along  this  same  line  of  insensibility  to  the  spir- 
itual truth  which  God  is  ever  offering  us  may  arise 
an  eager  longing  for  some  ecstatic  vision.  I  have  known 
more  than  one  earnest  Christian  to  cherish  for  years 
the  hope  of  such  an  experience.  For  at  least  once  in  a 
lifetime  they  would  fain  be  rapt  out  of  themselves. 
Have  they  not  heard  or  read  of  those  that  were?  If 
some  day,  while  kneeling  in  prayer,  they  might  be  so 
thrilled  and  uplifted  by  the  revealing  Spirit  as  to 
become  insensible  to  the  body  and  all  earthly  surround- 
ings— ^that  is  the  experience  of  the  celestial  truth  and 
glory  which  they  are  craving.  That,  they  feel,  would 
once  for  all  make  them  sure  of  God  and  of  their 
acceptance  with  him.  All  in  vain.  For  meantime  in 
God's  world,  in  their  own  lives,  in  their  own  spirits, 
the  same  truth  and  glory  are  continually  set  forth ;  and 
the  form  of  the  revelation  is  regular,  orderly,  familiar. 
But  partly  perhaps  on  this  very  account  it  goes  un- 
noticed and  uninterpreted. 

"  Lord,  show  us  the  Father,"  said  Philip,  "  and  it 
sufficeth  us."  "  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and 
dost  thou  not  know  me,  Philip  ?  "  Day  by  day,  month 
after  month,  the  Father  had  been  walking  and  talking 
with  these  men,  in  the  person  of  Jesus  his  Son.    Blessed 


106  VISION  AND  POWER 

were  the  eyes  of  Philip  and  the  others,  for  they  saw. 
But  did  they  see? 

Poor  indeed  was  the  undiscerned  or  misinterpreted 
outward  vision,  even  though  its  subject  was  the  Man 
of  Galilee  and  of  Calvary. 

So,  the  Christian  prayer  is  for  the  perpetual  inner 
light  rather  than  for  the  extraordinary  manifestation, 
for  vision  rather  than  visions.  "  I  have  often  prayed 
my  God,"  said  Martin  Luther,  "  that  I  might  not  see 
any  vision  or  miracle,  nor  be  informed  in  dreams,  since 
I  have  enough  to  learn  in  his  word."  We,  if  not  called 
upon  to  pray  against  such  experiences,  are  certainly 
nowhere  bidden  to  pray  for  them.  "  The  fruit  of  the 
Spirit  is  " — ecstasy,  vision,  miracle  ?  "  Pure  religion 
and  undefiled  before  our  God  and  Father  is  this  " — a 
state  of  ecstasy,  vision,  miraculous  achievement? 
"  And  hereby  we  know  that  we  know  Him,  if  " — ^we 
have  felt  ecstasy,  seen  visions,  wrought  miracles  ?  Such 
is  not  the  New  Testament  answer.* 

n 

But  it  is  time  that  we  should  try  to  mark  with  some 
distinctness  three  or  four  different  meanings  of  the 
word  we  have  been  using  so  freely.  True,  it  is  sel- 
dom altogether  agreeable,  to  either  writer  or  reader, 
to  stop  and  define  one's  terms.  But  though  it  be  some- 
what grievous,  nevertheless  it  is  safe.  First  of  all,  then, 
there  is  a  difference  to  be  noted  between  "  a  vision  " 
(or,  in  the  plural  form,  "  visions  ")  and  "  vision." 

What  is  a  vision?     The  name  may  be  given,   as 

•  Galatiana  5 :  22 ;  James  1 :  27 ;  John  2 :  3. 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  107 

already  indicated,  to  a  scene  made  up  perhaps  of  a 
number  of  objects  and  events,  like  what  appears  to  the 
mind  in  a  dream,  only  with  the  senses  sunk  into  a 
deeper  state  of  torpor — a  trance  scene.  Such  was 
Peter's  experience.  "  I  was  in  a  trance  and  saw  a 
vision." 

But  in  the  more  familiar  use  of  it  the  name  is  given 
to  any  imaginative  mental  picture  of  the  future — say, 
such  an  ideal  as  one's  hoped-for  home,  or  achievements, 
or  associations — as  when  we  speak  of  the  "  day-dreams 
of  youth."  These,  it  is  true,  may  be  mere  dreams  or 
vagaries;  but  in  many  cases  they  are  genuine  ideals 
without  which  the  world  would  be  poor  indeed. 

The  daughter  in  the  home  where  she  has  been  loved 
and  cared  for  with  a  love  that  gives  and  asks  nothing 
again  dreams  of  a  far  more  beautiful  home,  in  a  fu- 
ture all  radiant  with  love  and  joy.  The  busy  trades- 
man in  the  midst  of  his  years  is  planning  for  a  com- 
petence on  which  he  may  retire  for  the  fuller  enjoy- 
ment of  what  remains  to  him  of  this  life's  short  journey. 
Even  in  the  case  of  the  faithful  and  happy  burden- 
bearers  in  the  noblest  walks  of  life,  there  may  be 
comfort  in  forecasting  a  time  when  the  tasks  will  be 
less  exacting  and  the  days  more  tranquil  and  free. 
"  Ah,"  wrote  Joseph  Parker,  "  when  I  am  in  the  thick 
of  it,  what  a  help  my  rose-covered  cottage  is  to  me." 
It  is  true,  no  such  restful  cottage  home  ever  fell  to 
the  lot  of  the  great  London  preacher — and  it  was  well, 
no  doubt ;  yet  he  felt  the  "  help  "  of  the  heart's  sweet 
picture  of  it  amid  the  strenuous  labors  of  his  life.  Thus 
the  Bright  Land  is  for  most  of  us  a  morning  or  a 


108  VISION  AND  POWER 

noonday  land,  while  for  a  few  it  is  the  land  of  the 
setting  sun ;  but  we  all  have  seen  it  at  times  just  a  little 
ahead — in  vision.  It  beckons  us  on — "  something  that 
keeps  calling,  calling,"  as  Lieutenant  Peary  said  of 
the  voice  that  would  not  let  him  rest  from  his  perilous 
exploration  in  the  far  North-land — and  forbids  our 
abiding  with  full  satisfaction  in  any  present  condition. 

Even  the  imaginative  child  is  wont  to  fancy  a  time 
which  is  all  play-time,  in  a  wonder-world  of  beautiful 
sights  and  sounds. 

"  '  Where  are  you  running  so  fast,  so  fast? 
Now  answer,  my  little  boys  three.' 
'  We  are  going  to  live  where  they  have  no  school, 
In  the  Land  of  the  Gingerbread  Tree.' " 

Truer  and  finer  than  any  of  these  is  the  vision  of 
personal  goodness  which  arises,  as  the  moral  nature 
unfolds  under  the  touch  of  the  Spirit  of  truth.  Often 
it  is  suggested  by  such  goodness  lived  in  the  life  of 
some  one  we  know.  "  That's  the  kind  of  man  I  believe 
in,"  says  the  responsive  youth — for  adolescence  is  the 
chosen  period  of  visions  and  ideals ;  "  I  should  like  to 
be  like  him."  "  Unto  a  full-grown  man,  unto  the  meas- 
ure of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ :  "  that  was 
Paul's  vision  of  personal  goodness  after  he  had  seen 
the  man  Christ  Jesus. 

Nor  should  we  overlook  the  fact  that  our  vision  of 
the  future  need  not  be  simply  personal.  It  may  be 
social,  it  may  be  universal.  Morally  speaking,  indeed, 
it  must  be  so.  Spiritual  vision  is  necessarily  social  and 
universal — its  Christian  prayer,  "  Thy  will  be  done,  as 
in  heaven  so  on  earth." 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  109 

To  come  now  to  something  visible  to  the  bodily  eye, 
the  word  "  vision  "  may  mean  some  impressive  scene 
in  the  natural  world — say,  the  gathering  of  a  harvest, 
a  wood  of  budding  or  of  leafless  trees,  a  city  by  night, 
the  star-strewn  sky,  a  deserted  farm,  a  restless  multi- 
tude of  people;  or  even  a  single  person,  one  sweet  and 
noble  face  abiding  in  the  memory  to  waken  formative 
ideas  of  goodness  and  truth.  "  I  owe  you  a  great  debt, 
a  debt  far  larger  than  ever  I  can  pay,"  was  said  by 
a  stranger  on  his  introduction  to  a  lady  whom  he  had 
once  chanced  to  see  in  a  street  car,  and  the  look  of 
peace  and  joy  on  whose  face  had  scattered  a  sense  of 
disheartenment  which  had  been  beclouding  his  mind. 
A  glad  and  peaceful  soul  in  a  face — shall  we  hesitate 
to  call  that  a  vision? 

And  still  again,  some  one  else's  vision  of  an  out- 
ward scene  or  object  may  be  reproduced  in  our  minds 
by  means  of  descriptive  words,  perhaps  from  the  tongue 
or  pen  of  an  original  witness.  It  may  be  written  in 
the  book  we  are  reading.  Above  all,  it  may  be  written 
in  the  Gospels  of  the  I^ew  Testament. 

In  such  senses  as  these,  then,  we  may  speak  of  hav- 
ing a  vision.  It  may  be  a  trance  scene;  it  may  be  an 
ideal,  either  personal  or  general,  of  the  future;  it 
may  be  a  natural  scene;  it  may  be  a  reproduction  of 
some  natural  scene  by  descriptive  words. 

Ill 

And  now,  what  is  vision  ?  Its  best  synonym,  perhaps, 
is  "  insight."  It  is  depth  and  breadth  of  view,  fore- 
cast, intellectual  or  moral  illumination,  the  sense  of 


110  VISION  AND  POWER 

the  universal  in  the  particular  or  of  the  eternal  in 
the  transient.  With  respect  to  visions,  it  is  interpre- 
tation. What  do  my  visions  mean  ?  what  is  their  deep- 
est and  largest  significance?  I  must  interpret  them; 
and  this  interpretation  is  vision. 

It  is  in  some  such  use  of  the  word,  for  example, 
that  we  remark  concerning  this  or  that  man  that  he 
is  "  a  man  of  vision."  Or,  on  the  contrary,  it  may  be 
remarked,  "  He  lacks  vision."  The  man  may  have 
his  visions,  but  his  knowledge  of  them  is  at  best  super- 
ficial. He  does  not  penetrate  to  the  heart  of  them. 
He  does  not  adequately  interpret.  His  sight  is  with- 
out insight.     He  is  not  a  seer. 

In  looking  upon  a  natural  scene,  for  example,  what 
the  eye  takes  in  is  very  little  of  itself.  It  is  only 
colors,  "  a  clever  wash  of  bright  and  dark,  of  green, 
yellow,  red,  and  blue."  The  eye  of  the  deer  or  the 
swallow  or  the  dog  takes  in  that.  The  ideas  and  senti- 
ments which  it  yields,  being  interpreted,  these  are  the 
inner  scene  and  greater  reality. 

What  do  you  see,  then,  in  looking,  let  us  say,  upon 
the  star-strewn  sky?  It  depends  on  who  you  are  and 
what  is  your  mood  at  the  time.  What  did  a  Hebrew 
psalmist  see  ?  "  The  work  of  Thy  fingers,"  "  which 
Thou  hast  ordained,"  "  what  is  man  that  Thou  art 
mindful  of  him  ?  "  "  Thou  hast  made  him  but  little 
lower  than  God " — the  unapproachable  greatness  of 
God,  and  the  greatness  of  man,  whom,  notwithstanding 
his  physical  littleness  and  frailty,  God  has  made  his 
viceroy  on  earth,  that  is  what  appeared  to  the  inner 
eye  of  the  divinely  taught  psalmist.    That  was  vision. 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  111 


IV 

Alone  in  prayer  on  Simon  the  tanner's  house,  Simon 
Peter  "fell  into  a  trance,  and  he  beholdeth  (Beaopei, 
is  a  spectator  of)  the  heaven  opened  "  and  a  descending 
sheet  filled  with  forms  of  animal  life.  Then,  after  it 
had  been  given  him  to  interpret  that  which  he  had 
seen,  there  was  a  much  greater  experience  to  relate :  "  Of 
a  truth  I  perceive  (  HaraXafxftavopLai^  I  lay  hold  of  with 
my  mind)  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  but  in 
every  nation  he  that  feareth  him  and  worketh  right- 
eousness is  acceptable  to  him."  That  spiritual  insight 
and  outlook;  the  discernment  of  the  universal  good- 
will of  the  living  God,  valuing  men  not  according 
to  their  external  circumstances  of  race  or  ecclesiasti- 
cism ;  the  religious  aristocracy  of  Israel  doomed  to  van- 
ish before  the  spiritual  aristocracy  of  man:  that  was 
vision. 

For  an  illustration  from  object-lessons  in  the  teach- 
ing of  Jesus,  recall  the  incident  of  the  child  in  the 
midst  of  the  disciples.  As  they  were  questioning 
among  themselves  as  to  which  should  be  greater  than 
the  others  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  "  he  called  to  him 
a  little  child  and  set  him  in  the  midst  of  them."  It 
was  in  Capernaum,  the  city  of  Simon  Peter,  and 
therefore  not  improbably  in  his  house.  Only  a  child 
that  chanced  to  be  near  ?  Yes — ^though,  if  one  might  so 
guess,  a  wee  son  or  daughter  of  that  singularly  hon- 
oured fisherman's  household — only  that  lovely  thought 
of  God,  childhood,  looking  forth  from  the  face  of  some 


lia  VISION  AND  POWER 

one  little  child.  The  Divine  idea  realized  once  in 
the  child  Jesus,  and  present  potentially  in  every 
other. 

"  Unto  us  a  child  is  born  " — the  Christ-child,  who 
was  to  become,  in  a  truer  sense  than  it  was  given  the 
ancient  prophet  to  see,  the  Lord  of  life.  Saviour  and 
King  of  men.  In  him  the  world  is  learning,  though  all 
too  slowly,  the  reverence  due  to  childhood — in  his  life 
and  explicitly  in  his  word  of  teaching.  To  the  eyes  of 
sense,  indeed,  the  infancy  of  a  human  soul  may  seem 
like  a  commonplace  affair,  but  Jesus'  word  to  the  sin- 
cere yet  sense-bound  disciples,  on  this  and  other  occa- 
sions, showed  something  of  its  infinite  spiritual  beauty 
and  significance :  "  Except  ye  turn  and  become  as  little 
children,  ye  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven ;  "  "  Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God ;  "  "  And 
whoso  shall  receive  one  such  little  child  in  my  name 
receiveth  me." 

All  unconsciously  to  themselves,  how  much  do  our 
children  teach  us. 

I  have  heard  General  Clinton  B.  Eisk  tell  the  story 
of  his  conversion.  He  had  been  a  prayerless  man.  One 
evening  it  fell  to  him,  in  the  mother's  absence,  to  hear 
their  little  daughter  repeat  her  evening  prayer.  Kneel- 
ing at  his  knees,  she  prayed  as  a  child  may,  and  among 
others  for  him.  Then,  as  he  put  her  to  rest,  she  asked, 
looking  into  his  face  with  the  simple-hearted  earnest- 
ness of  childhood,  "  Papa,  do  you  pray  ? "  Nothing 
had  ever  so  touched  him.  A  prayerless  father  of  a 
guileless,  praying  child.  He  tried  to  dismiss  the  un- 
welcome thought,  but  in  vain.     He  took  up  a  book 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  113 

to  read,  but  laid  it  down  and  walked  out  beneath  the 
stars,  the  night  wind  in  his  face,  that  he  might  shake 
ofr  the  spell  that  had  somehow  bound  him,  and  so  come 
to  himself.  But  the  pure,  sweet  voice  persisted,  repeat- 
ing the  words,  "  Do  you  pray  ?  "  The  vision  refused 
to  fade  from  his  mind — that  veritable  vision  of  one  of 
God's  innocent  young  angels,  standing  white-robed  be- 
fore him,  and  making  known  in  reverent  love,  more 
wisely  than  she  knew,  the  one  eternal  Father  of  them 
both.  It  brought  the  strong  man  to  his  knees,  and  he 
did  indeed  come  to  himself,  which  was  to  come  into 
a  great  and  beneficent  Christian  life. 

It  was  a  noteworthy  experience.  But  there  is  an- 
other in  which  very  many  of  us  may  share.  I  mean 
that  it  is  by  the  hand  of  a  little  child  that  the  father 
and  mother  may  be  led  into  the  clearer  light  of  the 
eternal  fatherhood.  For  what  does  it  disclose — this 
new,  strange  type  of  sacrificial  love  which  the  baby's 
coming  inspires  in  the  parent's  heart  ?  Whence  could 
it  arise  but  out  of  the  heart  of  the  Father  in  heaven? 
Therefore,  his  giving  is  also  a  self-giving,  his  love  a 
sacrificial  love.  Thus  we  come  to  understand  as  never 
before  such  a  word  of  Jesus  as  the  parable  of  the 
Prodigal  Son.  Look  up  from  a  parent's  love  to  its 
Source,  and  behold  in  vision  the  father-heart  of  God. 

It  may  also  befall  that  the  depth  of  one's  love  is  re- 
vealed only  by  the  pang  of  grief  at  the  loss  of  its 
object. 

"  Fold  the  hands   across   the   breast 
So,  as  when  he  knelt  to  pray, 
Leave  him  to  his  dreamless  restj 
Baby  died  to-day." 


114  VISION  AND  POWER 

Then,  in  the  anguish  of  wounded  parental  love,  one 
begins  to  learn  more  really  the  love  of  the  heavenly 
Father  to  his  children,  and  his  will  that  none  of  them 
perish. 

A  simple  little  child  a  vision?    Yes,  a  vision  of  the 
Highest. 


For  an  illustration  from  Peter's  own  earlier  history, 
let  us  turn  again  to  the  Gospels  and  read  the  narrative 
of  an  event  that  took  place  before  his  bodily  eyes  and 
at  once  disclosed  something  of  its  meaning  to  his  mind 
and  heart.  The  scene  was  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Gen- 
nesaret.  The  time  was  before  this  fisherman  had  com- 
mitted himself  to  discipleship  with  Jesus.  See  the 
multitude  pressing  upon  the  new  and  wonderful  Prophet 
to  hear  the  Word  of  God.  Entering  into  one  of  two 
boats,  which  was  Simon's,  Jesus  asked  him  to  with- 
draw a  little  from  the  land.  There  he  taught  the  peo- 
ple; and  when  he  had  left  speaking  he  said  to  Simon: 
"  Put  out  into  the  deep  and  let  down  your  nets  for  a 
draught."  "  Master,  we  toiled  all  night,  but  at  thy 
word  I  will  let  down  the  nets."  And  the  ingather- 
ing of  fishes  was  so  great  that  the  boats  began  to 
sink. 

"What  could  it  all  mean  ?  The  vast  congregation  of 
wonder-stricken  people  hanging  attentive  upon  the 
speech  of  Jesus,  the  tranquil  and  authoritative  com- 
mand of  nature  and  of  man,  the  superhuman  wisdom, 
grace,  and  goodness — like  a  sudden  flame  from  some 
unseen  fire  it  lit  up  the  soul  of  Simon,  and  he  fell  down 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  115 

at  Jesus'  feet,  crying  out :  "  Depart  from  me,  for  I  am 
a  sinful  man,  O  Lord."  He  had  beheld  a  sign,  cumu- 
lative in  its  awful  yet  glorious  power,  of  the  presence 
of  the  Eternal.  Who  was  he,  with  all  his  faults  and 
sins  upon  him,  to  stand  in  such  a  presence?  He  had 
never  been  so  self-revealed  before.  Down  on  his  knees 
he  prays  to  be  spared  this  contact  with  the  insufferable 
light  of  Divine  holiness  and  pow^er.  It  was  a  flash  of 
spiritual  vision.  May  it  not  have  been  the  vision  that 
determined  him  at  that  very  time  to  leave  all  at  the 
Master's  word  and  follow  him — follow  the  Holy  One 
of  whose  presence  and  leadership  he  felt  so  painfully 
unworthy?  !Nor  do  we  wonder  that  long  afterward 
he  should  write  to  certain  of  his  fellow-disciples  of 
Jesus :  "  Like  as  He  who  called  you  is  holy,  be  ye  also 
holy  in  all  manner  of  living ;  "  *  and,  "  If  ye  call  on 
God  as  Father  who  without  respect  of  persons  judgeth 
according  to  each  man's  work,  pass  the  time  of  your 
sojourning  in  fear."  f 

The  world  was  then  in  its  first  Christian  century. 
It  is  now  in  its  twentieth.  Changes  innumerable  have 
occurred.  The  believers  in  Jesus  of  I*^azareth  have  not 
become  an  extinct  sect.  On  the  contrary,  they  have 
increased  unto  multiplied  millions.  But  do  they  still 
have  visitations  from  the  Most  High  in  visions  and 
in  the  interpretation  thereof?  As  truly  as  ever  in  the 
beginning.  Among  the  numberless  changes  there  has 
been  none  in  spiritual  truth,  none  in  the  everlasting 
Christ,  none  in  the  heart  and  will  of  his  Father  and 
ours. 

*  I  Peter  1 :  15. 
1 1  Peter  1 :  17. 


110  VISION  AND  POWER 

Year  by  year  the  procession  of  Christian  pilgrims  is 
passing  through  the  coast  town  of  Joppa  and  by  the 
lakeside  in  Galilee,  but  they  see  not  the  face  of  Jesus 
of  l^azareth  as  did  Simon  Peter  in  his  day.  Hence 
they  have  no  such  personal  witness  to  oifer  as  had 
Peter's  fellow-disciple  John,  who,  in  old  age,  the  last 
survivor  of  the  twelve  that  had  once  lived  with  Jesus, 
began  his  letter  to  all  the  Christians  whom  he  might 
reach,  with  the  great  informal  greeting :  "  That  which 
was  from  the  beginning,  that  which  we  have  heard, 
which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  that  which  we  be- 
held, and  our  hands  have  handled,  concerning  the  word 
of  life  .  .  .  that  which  we  have  seen  and  heard  de- 
clare we  unto  you."  Yet  through  John's  word  we  all 
may  know  Jesus.  In  our  far-away  land  and  with  two 
millenniums  intervening  between  the  days  of  his  flesh 
and  our  own  appointed  days,  we  may  make  acquaintance 
with  him  and  walk  with  him  in  paths  of  love  and  duty, 
day  by  day. 

With  what  manner  of  face  and  figure  did  Jesus  ap- 
pear? ]^o  word  concerning  it  has  been  transmitted 
to  us.  It  may  be  better  not  to  know.  But  we  may  know 
him,  as  truly  as  did  his  earliest  called  disciples.  Por 
John,  writing  to  those  who  had  never  seen  the  face 
of  the  Lord  as  they  had  seen  the  faces  of  their  kindred 
and  friends  about  them,  declares  as  his  purpose  in  this 
very  letter :  "  That  ye  also  might  have  fellowship  with 
us,  yea,  and  our  fellowship  is  with  the  Father  and  with 
his  Son  Jesus  Christ."  And  Peter  in  his  first  letter 
has  written  concerning  this  same  Eternal  Word  made 
flesh :    "  Whom  not   having  seen   ye   love ;    in   whom. 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  117 

though  now  ye  see  him  not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice 
greatly."  * 

Through  the  testimony  of  such  personal  eye-witnesses, 
then,  we  too  have  our  vision  of  the  Man  of  Galilee. 
And  through  the  interpretation  by  the  Spirit  of  his 
mind  and  person  and  teaching  and  sacrificial  life  and 
death  and  life  triumphant  over  death,  and  of  his  atoning 
love  which  passes  knowledge,  we  too,  not  having  seen, 
may  love  and  greatly  rejoice. 

VI 

I  am  writing  on  New  Year's  Day.  What  is  likely 
at  such  a  time  to  be  one's  re-vision  of  the  Old  Year? 
A  routine  of  daily  affairs,  business  successes  or  fail- 
ures, meetings  and  partings,  domestic  joys,  journeyings 
here  and  there,  humdrum,  seasons  of  storm  and  strain, 
perhaps  a  sorrow  that  has  left  its  ineffaceable  scar  on 
the  soul ;  and  withal  the  whole  succession  of  scenes  and 
events  melting  like  a  cloud  into  the  irrevocable  past. 
And  what  the  pre-vision  of  the  year  just  now  knocking 
at  the  door?  About  the  same  as  the  retrospect  of  its 
immediate  predecessor,  with  probably  the  added  hope 
of  some  larger  achievement  and  the  recognition  of  the 
possibility  that  the  cycle  of  the  New  Year  may  be 
broken  at  any  time  by  the  hand  of  death. 

But  if  that  be  all,  alas  for  our  eyes,  for  they  see 
not,  and  our  ears,  for  they  are  deadly  dull  of  hearing. 
It  is  not  all.  It  is  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with 
the  great  reality.  To  the  spiritual  mind  both  the  de- 
parting   and    the   coming  year   are   sacred   with   the 

•  I  Peter  1 :  8. 


118  VISION  AND  POWER 

presence  of  the  ever-living  God.  Both  are  not  only 
nominally  but  really  "  years  of  grace."  Every  one  of 
the  seven  hundred  and  thirty  days  of  them  is  a  day  of 
God.  Law  and  order  and  providence,  a  Divine  educa- 
tion of  the  soul,  truth  and  love,  unceasing  gracious  min- 
istries, unceasing  opportunities  of  Christian  service — ' 
that  is  what  the  loyal  child  of  God  sees  in  the  suc- 
cessive cycles  of  this  fleeting,  troubled,  and  joyous  life. 

Even  to  eyes  like  ours,  so  poorly  able  to  make  out 
the  Divine  handwriting,  "  last  year  "  spells  Providence 
and  "  this  year  "  Opportunity.  Oh,  the  glory  of  it ! 
the  ineffable  gladness  of  a  single  year  of  life  in  the 
name  of  him  who  in  oneness  with  the  will  of  his 
Father  loved  us  and  gave  himself  up  for  us ! 

Are  we  growing  old?  The  days  drawing  nigh  in 
which  it  may  be  declared  that,  from  the  viewpoint  of 
physical  comforts,  "  Thou  shalt  say,  I  have  no  pleasure 
in  them  "  ? 

"  Gone,  they  tell  me,  is  youth, 
Gone  is  the  strength  of  my  life; 
Nothing    remains    but   decline, 
Nothing  but  age  and  decay. 

"  Not  so :   I  am  God's  little  child, 
Only  beginning  to  live. 
Coming  the  days  of  my  prime, 
Coming  the  strength  of  my  life, 
Coming  the  vision  of  God, 
Coming  my  bloom  and  my  power." 

Heaven-wide  is  the  difference  between  that  knowl- 
edge which  is  by  the  senses  and  that  which  is  by  the 
intuitions  and  judgments  of  an  inner  life  of  the  Spirit. 
The  two  contrasted  views  appear  in  the  Scriptures,  as 
also  in  everyday  observation  and  experience.     Put  the 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  119 

non-spiritual  view  of  life,  as  chiefly  set  forth,  let  us 
say,  in  Ecclesiastes,  side  by  side  with  what  this  same 
time-life  is  to  the  faithful  soul,  as  interpreted  by  the 
psalmists : 

"  One  generation   goeth   and  "  How  precious  is  thy  loving- 

another  generation  cometh ;  and  kindness,  O  God.  And  the  chil- 
the  earth  abideth  for  ever.  .  .  .  dren  of  men  take  refuge  under 
All  things  are  full  of  weariness,  the  shadow  of  thy  wings.  They 
man  cannot  utter  it;  the  eye  is  shall  be  abundantly  satisfied 
not  satisfied  with  seeing,  nor  with  the  fatness  of  thy  house; 
the  ear  filled  with  hearing." —  and  thou  shalt  make  them 
Ecclesiastes  1:4,  8.  drink    of    the    river    of    thy 

pleasures.  For  with  thee  is  the 
fountain  of  life:  in  thy  light 
shall  we  see  light." — Psaxm 
36:  7-9. 

Which  of  these  two  is  a  picture  of  that  "  which  is  life 
indeed  "  ? 

It  has  been  a  good  many  years  since  I  read  Mark 
Guy  Pearce's  racy  little  book,  "  Mister  Horn  and  His 
Friends  " ;  but  one  of  its  pictured  experiences  is  still 
rememberable.  Mister  Horn  was  a  laboring  man,  with 
a  specialty.  His  specialty  was  giving  to  the  Church  for 
the  conversion  of  the  world.  He  believed  that  a  man 
ought  to  plan  for  giving,  as  for  getting.  Acting  on  this 
principle,  he  determined  to  live  one  year  on  what  he 
had  already  saved,  and  give  the  whole  year's  earnings 
to  the  building  of  a  new  chapel  in  his  neighborhood. 
He  always  insisted  that  this  was  the  very  happiest  year 
of  his  life.  ISTever,  he  said,  had  he  felt  so  much  like 
being  one  of  those  who  in  the  heavenly  glory  rest  not 
day  nor  night  from  the  service  of  their  King.  "  I  used 
to  think  that  they  up  in  their  glory  and  I  down  in  my 
well  [which  he  was  digging,  a  good  part  of  the  time] 


120  VISION  AND  POWER 

were  both  doing  the  same  thing,  for  all  that  we  were 
such  a  long  way  off;  we  were  both  working  for  the 
same  Lord  and  we  both  wanted  to  do  as  much  as  ever 
we  could.    That  was  a  happy  year." 

From  the  bottom  of  his  well  Mister  Horn  could  see  the 
pure  light  of  the  stars  in  the  daytime ;  but  neither  that 
nor  the  sunset  glory  in  which  he  walked  to  his  humble 
home  when  the  day's  work  had  ended  was  to  be  ac- 
counted of  in  comparison  with  his  vision  of  the  glory 
of  giving  one's  self  in  Christian  service.  Drudgery  was 
it,  to  be  digging  a  well  ?  What  Mister  Horn  saw  in  it 
was  what  we  believe  Jesus  saw  in  his  carpenter  work 
in  Nazareth.  To  him  it  was  nothing  less  than  the  sweet 
and  holy  will  of  God. 

As  truly,  then,  as  men  have  been  gifted  with  a  power 
of  eyesight,  enabling  them  to  see  that  which  is  visi- 
ble, so  truly  have  they  been  gifted  with  a  power  of 
inner  vision,  enabling  them  to  see  the  invisible.  Every 
day,  in  fact,  they  see  incomparably  more  without  their 
eyes  than  with  them. 

But  let  no  one  ask  how  it  is  done.  Both  the  eyesight 
and  the  inner  vision  are  simple  and  sublime  facts  of 
the  soul,  utterly  beyond  human  comprehension.  It  is 
also  true  that  while  this  inner  vision  may  be  intel- 
lectual, as  that,  for  example,  of  the  mathematician,  the 
scientist,  the  historian,  the  philosopher,  or  aesthetic,  as 
that  of  the  artist,  or  personal,  as  that  of  any  one 
who  forms  an  ideal  for  the  direction  and  regulation 
of  his  own  life,  it  may  also  be  distinctly  spiritual. 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  121 


VII 

Now,  it  is  spiritual  vision  with  which  our  attention 
is  occupied  in  the  present  study.  Let  us  therefore  note, 
as  briefly  as  possible,  the  two  principal  powers  which 
it  may  be  said  to  include. 

The  first  is  the  power  of  spiritual  discernment. 
Which  means  the  soul  in  the  act  of  perceiving  spiritual 
facts  and  values. 

Such  perception  is  possible  to  man  as  man.  It  is 
a  capacity  of  the  soul.  There  is  a  moral  nature  that 
recognizes  righteousness  as  actually  as  the  social  nature 
recognizes  society,  or  the  sesthetic  nature,  beauty. 
There  is  a  pressure  of  moral  obligation  upon  the  con- 
science as  real  as  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  on 
the  flesh — and  often  more  sensibly  felt.  There  is  One 
who  is  nearest  to  that  which  is  highest  in  ourselves. 
There  are  fellow-men  to  whom  our  innermost  relations 
are  moral  relations,  our  innermost  obligations  moral 
obligations.  There  are  ideas,  hints,  glimpses,  foretok- 
enings,  of  that  which  is  best  in  life,  what  ought  to  be, 
the  supreme  good.  There  is  an  ever-rising  discontent 
with  attainments  and  doings.  What  does  Aristotle 
mean  when,  speaking  of  the  energy  and  blessedness 
of  Deity,  he  declares  that  "  that  which  is  most  nearly 
allied  to  this  must  be  the  happiest,"  and  speaks  of  a 
man's  living  "  not  so  far  forth  as  he  is  a  man,  but 
as  there  is  in  him  something  divine  "  ?  "  Although  it 
be  small  in  size,"  he  says,  "  yet  in  power  and  value  it 
is  far  more   excellent  than   all."     In   some  form  or 


123  VISION  AND  POWER 

other.it  makes  itself  known  to  all  men  in  moments  of 
contemplation,  this  sense  of  something  higher,  of  some- 
thing Divine,  the  haunting  sense  of  an  Infinite 
Perfection. 

For  the  most  part,  however,  men  are  slow  of  heart 
to  understand  such  spiritual  facts  and  values.  They 
need  the  fuller  light  of  the  revelation  of  God  in  Jesus 
Christ.  To  have  the  mind  of  Christ,  the  spirit  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  this  is  to  know  indeed. 

What  mean  such  words  as  "  sin,"  "  repentance," 
'"  faith,"  "  sonship  to  God,"  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven," 
"  the  love  of  Christ,"  "  the  Christianizing  of  the 
world"  ?  There  are  those  who  are  fain  to  speak  of 
stealing  as  "  swiping,"  of  fighting  as  "  scrapping,"  of 
lying  as  "  romancing  " — in  a  word,  of  sin  in  any  or 
all  of  its  forms  as  no  deeply  personal  and  serious  mat- 
ter, but  rather  as  an  ignorance  or  a  misfortune  or,  at 
worst,  a  fault.  To  such  minds  it  would  seem  that  re- 
pentance can  mean  little  more  than  a  feeling  of  regret, 
followed  perhaps  by  a  certain  prudent  or  decent  change 
of  conduct.  And  shall  we  go  on  to  say  that  faith 
to  them  will  probably  mean  the  acceptance  of  a  doctrine, 
sonship  to  God  the  natural  and  inevitable  relation  of 
a  soul  to  Him  by  whom  it  was  made,  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  the  organized  Church,  the  love  of  Christ  little 
more  than  a  theological  formula,  and  the  Christiani- 
zation  of  the  world  a  doubtful  sectarian  undertak- 
ing? 

But  unless  the  evangelic  reading  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment be  a  deplorable  misreading,  sin  is  the  breaking  of 
a  moral  being's  relation  to  the  holy  heavenly  Father, 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  123 

grieving  his  Spirit,  bringing  guilt  upon  the  conscience, 
issuing  in  spiritual  death,  and  to  be  put  awaj  only  by 
the  sacrificial  love  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ ;  repentance, 
the  turning,  in  contrition  of  heart,  with  full  persua- 
sion of  the  will,  from  all  sin  unto  the  forgiving  God; 
faith,  the  opening  of  the  whole  heart  to  the  Saviour; 
sonship,  the  filial  likeness  in  spirit  and  character  to 
God  our  Father;  the  love  of  Christ,  the  deepest  and 
greatest  fact  ever  embodied  in  human  flesh ;  the  Chris- 
tianization  of  the  world,  sharing  with  all  men  every- 
where the  personal  and  saving  knowledge  of  God  as 
revealed  in  Jesus. 

Here,  then,  is  the  sphere  of  those  things  of  the 
Spirit  which,  according  to  the  very  nature  of  them, 
must  be  "  spiritually  discerned."  "  We  want  to  know 
with  our  brains,"  says  Grenfell,  the  heroic  missionary- 
physician  of  Labrador,  "  we  want  to  distrust  the  moni- 
tor in  our  hearts.  But  both  faith  and  experience  are 
needed  to  make  knowledge."  As  well  might  one  ex- 
pect to  understand  friendship  or  beauty  or  parental 
affection  by  an  act  of  pure  intellect,  as  by  such  an  act 
to  understand  spiritual  experiences  and  realities.  They 
are  known  only  through  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul. 
"  We  received  not  the  spirit  of  the  world  but  the  spirit 
which  is  of  God,  that  we  might  know  the  things  that 
are  freely  given  to  us  by  God."  "  He  that  lacketb  these 
things  " — such  as  "  faith,"  "  temperance,"  "  godliness," 
"  love  of  the  brethren,"  "  love  " — "  is  blind,  seeing  only 
what  is  near."  *  "  Every  one  that  loveth  .  .  .  know- 
eth  God  ...  for  God  is  love." 

*  II    Peter    1 :  9. 


IM  VISION  AND  POWER 

VIII 

The  other  power  is  spiritual  imagination.  Which 
means  the  soul  in  the  act  of  holding  up  and  picturing 
to  itself  spiritual  facts  and  values. 

Need  one  be  reminded  that  the  power  to  imagine  is 
always  astir,  from  infancy  to  old  age,  whether  we  wake 
or  sleep?  It  takes  a  hand  in  all  mental  activities. 
iWithout  it,  there  could  he  no  proper  perception  of 
the  external  world;  for  it  is  only  a  part,  often  a  very 
small  part,  of  the  surface  of  objects  that  we  see  or 
touch  at  any  one  time.  Imagination,  which  has  been 
aptly  called  a  second  sight,  supplies  the  rest. 

It  is  a  constructive  power.  It  gathers  and  builds.  It 
gives  form  and  colour  to  thought  so  as  to  make  it  image- 
like and  realizable.  It  fits  ideas  together,  under  laws 
of  reason  or  of  beauty,  into  some  new  and  larger  unity. 
Thus  it  is  that  the  mechanical  engineer  mentally  or- 
ganizes his  steam-engine  or  flings  his  suspension-bridge 
across  the  river  for  thunderous  freight  trains  to  pass 
over  in  safety;  that  the  musician,  like  deaf  Beethoven 
imagining  sounds,  constructs  his  anthem  or  his  ora- 
torio; that  the  speaker  knits  together  his  discourse; 
that  the  poet  (a  maker,  the  Greeks  called  him),  with 
his  preeminent  originative  and  constructive  genius, 
makes  his  poem. 

Great  works,  these;  nevertheless,  there  is  something 
of  this  creative  power  given  of  God  to  us  all.  That 
is  to  say,  every  one  may  be  and  is  a  maker  of  personal 
ideals.  Yet  more,  he  may  be  a  maker  of  moral  ideals. 
And  without  some  commanding  vision  of  moral  good — 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  125 

of  that  which  ought  to  he  as  distinct  from  the  existing 
fact — the  moral,  which  is  the  only  true,  life  is  impos- 
sible. "  Where  there  is  no  [such]  vision  the  people 
cast  off  restraint." 

I  knew  a  young  man  of  rare  intellectual  endow- 
ments who  declared  his  proposal  to  taste  every  species 
of  sensuous  pleasure.  In  his  outlook  that  was  life 
indeed — sensuous  pleasure  the  supreme  good.  One  need 
not  be  told  what  manner  of  man  he  was  and  became. 
To  lead  such  a  life  is  not  to  live.  Whether  the  physical 
gratifications  which  make  it  up  be  coarse  or  "  refined," 
those  of  a  Caliban  or  those  of  a  "  gentleman,"  it  is 
worse  than  a  brute  existence.  It  poisons  and  degrades 
the  soul. 

Nor  can  I  believe  a  life  so  lacking  in  purity  and  no- 
bleness to  be  a  common  youthful  ideal.  But  what  of 
the  commercial  ideal  a  few  years  later  in  life?  To 
dream  and  plan  and  labour  and  order  one's  life  from 
youth  onward  for  the  attainment  of  wealth,  and  thus 
become  a  partaker  at  the  altar  of  Mammon,  where  the 
heart's  lifelong  idolatrous  devotion  is  paid — this  appar- 
ently is  not  an  uncommon  conception  of  the  best  that 
life  has  to  offer.  And  it  is  only  another  fateful  abuse 
of  the  priceless  power  to  create  ideals — a  deliberate 
living  for  money  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  soul.  It  is  to 
be  what  Christiana  and  her  company  saw  in  the  Inter- 
preter's House — "  a  man  who  could  look  no  way  but 
downwards."  Just  above.  One  offered  him  a  celestial 
crown.  Alas !  in  vain.  He  saw  "  no  way  but  down- 
wards." 

Equally  notable  is  the  good  ideal's  power  for  good. 


126  VISION  AND  POWER 

"  I  had  perceived  bj  experience,"  said  William  Tyn- 
dale,  "  how  that  it  was  impossible  to  establish  the  lay 
people  in  any  truth,  except  the  Scripture  were  plainly 
laid  before  their  eyes  in  their  mother  tongue."  But 
it  was  in  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
there  was  no  printed  English  Bible  in  all  the  land. 
Then  it  was  that  Tyndale  had  his  vision.  He  foresaw 
such  a  Bible  in  the  churches  and  homes  of  the  people — 
even  in  the  hands  of  "  a  boy  that  driveth  the  plough." 
And  to  the  realization  of  that  vision  the  gifted  and 
learned  young  linguist  devoted  his  life.  In  poverty  and 
exile  and  imprisonment,  through  all  difficulty,  danger, 
and  disheartenment,  he  kept  on,  steadily  toiling  year 
after  year,  till  the  enemies  of  the  truth  led  him  forth 
to  die.  But  while  they  were  burning  his  body  to 
ashes,  his  New  Testament  was  passing  into  circulation 
among  his  countrymen,  sure  enough  "  in  their  mother 
tongue."  By  the  grace  of  God  he  made  his  life's  dream 
a  fact ;  and  every  one  of  the  millions  of  English  Bible 
readers,  from  then  till  now,  has  become  the  splendid 
dreamer's  debtor. 

"  Where  is  So-and-so  now  ?  "  I  was  asked  by  a  man 
working  with  a  hoe  for  his  daily  wage.  "  Why,  he  is 
in  charge  of  our  largest  church  in  Washington  City — 
one  of  our  most  useful  preachers,  hundreds  have  been 
converted  under  his  ministry."  "  Well,"  remarked  my 
friend  in  reply,  "  I  went  to  school  with  that  boy,  and 
he  always  said  he  was  going  to  be  something  like  that. 
The  other  fellows  used  to  make  fun  of  him  for  it; 
and  now  of  all  the  boys  that  went  to  that  school,  he 
is  the  only  one  that  is  doing  anything  more  than — than 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  127 

just  what  I  am  doing  now."  So  there  it  is,  I  could  not 
but  ponder;  twenty  boys  sitting  side  by  side  on  the 
benches  of  a  country  schoolhouse;  nineteen  of  them 
perhaps  supremely  interested  in  the  visible  and  the 
present,  or  in  a  future  projected  on  the  same  plane; 
but  one  with  the  pre-vision  of  a  higher  life,  which  to 
him  seemed  the  happiest  and  the  best  and  to  which 
he  believed  himself  divinely  called.  That  determined 
his  course  of  conduct  even  from  childhood.  The  light 
of  that  inspiring  moral  ideal  shone  upon  his  path:  he 
followed,  and  attained. 

Such  as  these,  and  side  by  side  with  them  God-given 
dreams  of  love  and  home,  are  the  great  dreams  of 
youth. 

It  is  not  meant,  of  course,  that  those  only  who  are 
to  occupy  some  conspicuous  position  need  to  form  an 
ideal  of  their  particular  life  and  work  in  the  world. 
All  alike  may  do  so,  if  they  will.  All  alike  ought 
to  practise  such  forecast  of  head  and  heart. 

And  now  if  it  be  asked  what  is  that  vision  of  the 
future  which  every  one,  no  matter  what  his  place  or 
occupation,  should  make  his  own,  there  can  be  but 
one  answer  to  the  question.  It  is  the  Christian  ideal; 
and  this  is,  to  do  with  a  filial  heart  the  will  of  the 
Father  in  heaven.  A  life  of  sonship  to  the  Lord  of 
heaven  and  earth — think  of  it.  ISTothing  greater  can 
be  imagined;  yet  nothing  less  is  worthy  of  the  su- 
preme human  purpose  and  endeavour. 

"Teach  me  to  do  Thy  will. 
For  Thou   art  my  God; 
Thy  Spirit  is  good, 
Lead  me  in  the  land  of  uprightness." 


128  VISION  AND  POWER 

And  it  is  simply  declaring  the  same  truth  under  the 
fulness  of  the  Divine  self-revelation,  to  say  that  the 
Christian  ideal  is  Christliness  of  mind  and  character. 
For  the  will  of  the  Father  was  ever  the  one  law  of  life 
to  Jesus  his  Son. 

This  for  each  man  individually,  and  equally  the 
ideal  for  the  community,  society,  mankind.  A  Chris- 
tianized social  order  and  an  evangelized  world — never 
perhaps  so  distinctly  as  at  the  present  time  has  this 
been  the  prophetic  vision  of  the  Christian  man. 

"  '  Dreamers  of  Dreams  ' !    We  take  the  taunt  with  gladness, 
Knowing  that  God,  beyond  the  years  you  see, 
Hath  wrought  the  dreams  that  count  with  you  for  madness. 
Into  the  substance  of  the  life  to  be." 

And  the  meaning  of  this  evangelization,  this  Christiani- 
zation,  this  bringing  in  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  the 
unveiled  mystery  of  it  all  is  that  men  shall  learn  and 
do  the  will  of  that  God  who  has  made  this  earth  the 
abode  of  a  rational  and  moral  world. 

IX 

Such,  meagrely  illustrated,  is  spiritual  vision  in  its 
two  interblended  powers  of  discernment  and  imagi- 
nation. 

Call  it,  if  you  will,  another  name  for  a  certain  activ- 
ity of  faith.  'Not  for  the  faith  of  assent  or  of  trust, 
but  for  the  faith  of  realization — as  when  it  is  written 
that  "  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen  but  at 
the  things  which  are  not  seen,"  or  that  Moses,  man  of 
vision  in  darkest  days,  "  endured  as  seeing  Him  who 
is  invisible." 


VISIONS  AND  VISION  129 

Out  of  such  a  realization  of  spiritual  facts  and  forces 
has  arisen  the  power  of  many  a  spoken  word.  For  both 
in  action  and  in  speech  the  men  of  vision  are  the  men 
of  power. 

An  old  friend  wrote  to  Wesley,  after  hearing  him 
preach  at  Epworth :  "  Your  presence  creates  an  awe, 
as  if  you  were  an  inhabitant  of  another  world."  And 
in  a  very  true  sense  that  is  indeed  what  Wesley  was. 
He  lived  in  the  habitual  and  vivid  consciousness  of 
"  another  world."  The  kingdom  of  heaven  was  more 
real  to  him  than  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  loyal  citizen  though  he  was  of  both  realms. 
It  was  in  spiritual  conviction  and  vision  of  the  facts 
of  God  in  Christ,  the  soul  with  its  possibilities  and 
perils,  sin,  redemption,  a  holy  and  loving  life,  eternal 
judgment,  that  his  busy  days  were  spent.  His  message, 
therefore,  smote  men's  consciences  and  touched  their 
hearts  as  that  of  a  messenger  from  the  immediate  pres- 
ence of  God.  Similarly  it  has  been  said  of  President 
Finney,  one  of  the  greatest  of  evangelists,  that  "  he 
looked  and  spoke  and  acted  like  a  man  who  was  han- 
dling the  invisible  and  impalpable  realities  of  the 
eternal  world,  there  in  the  living  presence  of  his  con- 
gregation," The  effect  was  often  overpowering.  Strong 
men  were  brought  to  their  knees  under  the  pressure 
of  that  ever-present  holy  will  of  God,  whose  reality  they 
had  never  so  felt  before. 

But  it  has  well  been  asked,  When  the  prophets  have 
no  vision,  how  shall  they  have  any  word  to  speak  ? 


VI 


VISION  OF  KATUKE 

Wherein  were  all  manner  of  fourfooted  beasts  and 
creeping  things  of  the  earth  and  birds  of  the  heaven. — 
Acts  10:  12. 

What  God  hath  cleansed  make  thou  not  common. — 
Acts  10:  15. 

THE  materials  of  Peter's  vision  came  from  the 
natural  world.  They  were  various  forms  of  sen- 
tient life  that  throng  earth  and  air,  walking 
things,  creeping  things,  flying  things,  strangely  grouped 
together.  IsTor  did  they  appear  as  an  accidental  and 
meaningless  crowd,  but  rather  as  a  divinely  ordered 
scene  whose  meaning  must  be  learned. 

So  also  does  the  natural  world  itself  appear  to  who- 
soever will  rightly  regard  it.  To  the  outward  eyes,  in- 
deed, which  are  only  a  mirror  of  surfaces,  it  shows  no 
more  than  physical  appearances;  but  to  the  eyes  of 
the  spiritual  understanding  it  would  fain  disclose,  por- 
tion by  portion,  an  inner  truth  and  teaching. 


It  is  George  Herbert,  I  believe,  who  says  that  the 
most  important  step  which  a  man  takes  in  his  natural 
life  is  his  first  step  out  of  doors.  This  most  important 
step  is  taken  in  infancy,  to  be  sure,  and  may  not  enable 
him,  even  with  the  full  and  wondering  eyes  of  the 
infant,  to  see  very  far.     Nevertheless,  it  is  the  step 

180 


VISION  OF  NATURE  131 

which  may  be  said  to  introduce  the  young  adventurer 
to  the  world  of  nature ;  and  that  is  "  the  vision  splen- 
did "  which  may  attend  his  steps  unto  the  end  of  life's 
journey. 

Meanwhile,  however,  daily  familiarity  with  it  will 
probably  hinder  him  from  seeing  its  lovely  mysteries 
as  he  might.  Were  a  person  who  had  been  born  and 
brought  up  inside  a  windowless  room — say,  in  a  dun- 
geon of  the  Middle  Ages — permitted  on  a  bright  day  in 
June  to  spend  a  morning  out  of  doors  in  some  luxuriant 
land,  and  then  at  midnight  bidden  to  look  upward  as 
long  as  he  would  to  the  starry  heights  of  heaven,  no 
tongue  could  express  his  sense  of  the  wonderfulness  of 
the  world.  Could  any  agnostic  interdict  prevent  the 
question  from  arising  in  his  heart,  Whence  came  it  all 
and  what  does  it  mean  ? 

We  may  know  something  of  what  it  meant  to  Jesus. 
He  was  the  Son  of  Man.  He  lived  not  to  dream  away 
life  in  a  devout  solitude,  but  as  Seeker  and  Saviour 
of  the  lost.  In  the  awful  conflict  with  sin  for  which 
he  came  into  the  world  he  laid  down  his  life,  slain 
by  human  hands,  in  the  conquering  love  of  atonement, 
with  the  prayer  on  his  lips :  "  Father,  forgive  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  "  As  Thou  walkedst," 
said  a  saintly  mystic,  "  a  man  amongst  men."  He  was 
a  friend  in  their  homes,  sitting  at  their  tables,  going 
in  and  out.  He  gathered  great  multitudes  about  him. 
He  gathered  a  household  of  disciples  very  closely  about 
him  as  their  teacher  and  revered  companion.  Yet  we 
do  not  think  of  Jesus  as  living  an  indoor  life.  Heading 
the  Gospels,  we  see  him  oftenest  in  the  open  air. 


132  VISION  AND  POWER 

He  walked  through  the  fields,  sat  by  the  well,  sailed 
on  the  lake,  journeyed  on  foot  here  and  there  through 
the  land,  went  up  into  a  mountain  for  prayer  and 
for  the  transfiguration  glory.  He  spoke  in  his  teaching 
of  natural  objects,  great  and  small — the  earth,  the  sky, 
the  sun,  the  rain,  the  wind,  the  rocks,  the  seeds,  the 
plants,  the  wheat,  the  fig-tree,  the  vineyard,  the  thistle, 
the  running  water,  the  birds  of  the  air,  the  lilies  of 
the  field.  "  And  every  day  He  was  teaching  in  the 
temple;  and  every  night  he  went  out  and  lodged  in 
the  mount  that  is  called  the  mount  of  Olives :  " 

"  So  through  the  world  the  footpath  way  he  trod, 
Breathing  the  air  of  heaven  in  every  breath; 
And  in  the  evening  sacrifice  of  death 
Beneath  the  open  sky  he  gave  his  soul  to  God." 

What  was  it  that  Jesus  said  concerning  the  God  of 
nature  ?  "  Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for  a  farthing  ? 
and  not  one  of  them  shall  fall  on  the  ground  without 
your  Father/'  The  birds  are  God's  birds — our  Fa- 
ther's birds.  Therefore,  as  we,  in  our  little  measure 
shall  share  in  the  vision  of  Jesus,  the  heavenly  Father 
will  to  us  also  be  the  God  of  nature,  one  God,  the  true, 
the  ever-living,  the  ever-present,  whose  will  is  holy 
law  and  whose  heart  is  redeeming  love. 

The  very  nature  of  nature  is  the  presence  and  pur- 
pose in  it  of  the  God  and  Father  of  Jesus  Christ.  This 
and  nothing  less  is 

"The  glory  pushing  in  the  blade  of  grass, 
That  hidden  soul  that  makes  the  flowers  grow." 

And  the  response  of  nature,  heard  by  the  sympathetic 
ear,  is  a  song  of  praise  to  that  ever-living  Creator. 


VISION  OF  NATURE  133 

"  Among  the  birds  "—wrote  Martin  Luther  at  the  close 
of  a  letter  to  his  friend  Melanchthon  from  the  lonely 
Wartburg—"  singing  sweetly  in  the  branches,  and 
praising  God  day  and  night  with  all  their  might."  ^ 

Call  nothing  in  nature,  not  even  its  "  creeping  things 
of  the  earth,"  common  and  unclean.  Have  we  ever 
cherished  so  narrow  and  superficial  an  idea  ?  Let  the 
biologist  teach  us  a  better.  To  him  the  weed  which 
the  gardener  tears  up  by  the  roots  to  throw  away  is  no 
less  interesting,  rather  more,  than  the  showiest  culti- 
vated plant.  To  him  even  the  slimy  swamp  or  the 
stagnant  pool  is  by  no  means  common  or  repellent,  but 
a  wonder-realm  of  order,  beauty,  law,  manifold  forms 
of  marvellous  life.  Let  the  pure-minded  artist  show 
us,  above  and  all  about  him,  the  glorious  creations 
of  the  Supreme  Artist  from  whom  his  own  sense  of  the 
beautiful  derives — 

"  The  beauty  and  the  wonder  and  the  power. 
The  shapes  of  things,  their  colours,  lights,  and  shades. 
Changes,  surprises — and  God  made  it  all. 
—For  what?" 

Henceforth  may  it  be  truly  declared  that  the  whole 
creation  is,  in  our  eyes,  "what  God  has  cleansed." 
"  And  God  saw  everything  that  he  had  made,  and  be- 
hold, it  was  very  good."  "  AU  thy  works  give  thanks 
unto  thee,  O  Lord." 


Not  content  with  what  the  unaided  eye  can  see,  men 
have  invented  means  to  supplement  its  power,  and 
have  thus  found  their  way  into  a  world  otherwise  quite 


134.  VISION  AND  POWER 

beyond  their  knowledge.  It  is  nearer  to  us,  this  re- 
cently discovered  world,  than  the  ground  upon  which 
we  tread;  it  is  inside  every  breath  of  air  we  inhale, 
and  every  drop  of  blood  in  our  veins ;  it  is  close  above, 
beneath,  around,  and  within  us  all  the  time.  All- 
encompassing  seas  of  water  and  air,  occupied  by 
innumerable  hosts  of  plants  and  animals — 800,000,- 
000,000  of  them  able,  we  are  told,  to  live  together  within 
the  space  of  a  cubic  foot  with  as  much  room  for  their 
growth  and  movements  as  the  trees  of  the  forest  or 
the  fish  of  the  sea. 

Nor  is  it  a  separate  and  distinct  world  from  that 
which  everybody  sees.  The  two  are  one,  they  consti- 
tute a  vital  unity.  Think  of  the  millions  of  white 
blood  corpuscles  coursing  through  one's  veins,  fight- 
ing and  destroying  the  multitudinous  disease  germs  that 
intrude  from  without.  And  through  this  realm  of  the 
infinitely  little — of  yeast-plants,  diatoms,  bacteria, 
amebas,  and  what  not — there  enter  into  our  own  per- 
sonal life  health  and  sickness,  the  strength  to  labour 
and  the  weakness  of  death. 

"How  great  are  thy  works,  O  Lord! 
Thy  thoughts  are  very  de*p." 

Or,  the  observer  may  look  toward  heaven  and  tell 
the  stars,  as  God  bade  Abram  do — "  if  thou  be  able 
to  tell  them."  He  may  note  a  nebulous  appearance 
somewhere  in  the  sky — say  in  the  constellation  of  Orion. 
Supposing  him  to  be  an  astronomer,  he  will  turn  his 
camera  toward  such  a  nebula ;  for  the  camera  can  catch 
what  the  most  powerfully  aided  eye  without  it  must 
fail  to  discover.     After  a  little  while  the  image  of  a 


VISION  OF  NATURE  135 

star  will  be  imprinted  upon  the  sensitive  plate  of 
the  camera;  then  another,  another,  another,  a  profusion 
of  enormous  worlds,  photographed  as  distinct  and  per- 
fect stars. 

How  far  off  are  such  innumerable  astronomic  worlds  ? 
Let  us  remember,  were  a  ray  of  light  to  go  travelling 
round  the  earth,  it  would  make  as  many  as  seven  such 
circuits  in  a  second.  Very  well;  the  astronomer  will 
tell  us  that  the  rays  of  light  which  pencilled  these  pic- 
tures which  he  has  to  show  left  their  own  worlds  on 
their  journey  to  his  camera  thousands  of  years  ago — 
"  and  the  worlds  sweep  on  profuse  as  spray  from  the 
hidden  ocean  of  creative  power."  Any  serious  attempt 
to  lay  hold  in  imagination  upon  such  dizzy  movements 
and  distances,  with  such  numberless  worlds  at  home 
in  them,  would  be  the  height  of  folly.  But  the  barest 
glimpse  of  the  facts  may  well  bring  the  astounded 
thinker  to  his  knees  not  only  with  the  ancient  doxology, 
"  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God,"  but  also 
with  the  accompanying  prayer  to  be  cleared  from  "  hid- 
den faults  "  and  kept  back  "  from  presumptuous  sins." 

Paul  and  Barnabas,  on  their  missionary  tour,  pro- 
claimed to  the  people  of  Lystra  the  good  tidings  of  "  the 
living  God,  who  made  the  heaven  and  the  earth  and 
the  sea  and  all  that  in  them  is."  And  further  they 
declared  that  God  had  "  not  left  himself  without  wit- 
ness "  even  in  the  idolatrous  nations  of  the  world. 
Wherein,  then,  had  he  borne  witness  of  himself  from 
the  very  beginning  to  these  Lystrans  and  other  pagan 
peoples?  Even  as  he  is  doing  everywhere  this  good 
hour,  in  the  vision  and  the  gifts  of  nature. 


136  VISION  AND  POWER 


III 

Verily  God  is  here  ceaselessly  self-revealed ;  for  that 
which  is  created,  be  it  inconceivably  small  or  incon- 
ceivably great,  be  it  near  or  far,  be  it  one  or  myriad 
myriads,  will  bear  witness  for  its  Maker.  The  gift  must 
needs  tell  of  the  giver.  And  as  to  the  laws  and  forces 
of  nature,  what  are  they  all  but  the  ever-present  expres- 
sions of  the  ever-present  Eternal  wisdom  and  will  ? 
Alas  for  the  mind  that  cannot  see  in  nature,  through 
and  through,  the  supernatural.  The  perpetual  causality 
and  purpose  must  be  found  in  rational  creative  Will. 
The  Psalmist  of  Israel,  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles, 
and  the  philosophic  poet  of  the  nineteenth  century  are 
here  at  one — 

"  For  here  is  the  finger  of  God,  a  flash  of  the  will  that  can, 
Existent  behind  all  laws,  that  made  them,  and  lo,  they  are." 

So  the  two  apostles  at  Lystra  went  on  to  say:  "  And 
yet  He  left  not  himself  without  witness,  in  that  he  did 
good,  and  gave  you  from  heaven  rains  and  fruitful  sea- 
sons, filling  your  hearts  with  food  and  gladness."  Na- 
ture of  her  own  power  could  no  more  send  down  rain 
from  the  clouds  of  heaven  and  propel  the  whirling  earth 
in  her  orbit  so  as  to  produce  the  fruitful  seasons,  than 
you  and  I  could  do  it  for  ourselves.  In  fact,  such  an 
expression  as  "  nature  of  her  own  power  "  is  but  an 
empty  phrase.  Only  a  person  can  be  a  cause — first 
of  all,  the  Divine  and  Infinite  Person,  then  such  cre- 
ated beings  as  man,  to  whom  he  has  imparted  a  cer- 
tain measure  of  freedom  and  creative  energy.     It  is 


VISION  OF  NATURE  137 

the  living  God  who  ministers  through  nature  every 
drop  of  rain — "  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  the  un- 
just " — and  every  grain  of  wheat  or  rice  or  maize — 
"  giveth  it  a  body  even  as  it  pleased  him,  and  to  each 
seed  a  body  of  its  own  " — it  is  he  who  ministers  it  to 
humankind,  filling  their  hearts  with  the  gladness  of 
food  and  of  life.  With  the  gladness  of  physical  food 
that  becomes  a  very  part  of  our  physical  selves — enter- 
ing into  our  bodies  to  feed  the  vital  flame,  climbing  up 
to  become  eyes  for  seeing  and  a  brain  to  think  with. 

This  we  may  call  the  utility  of  nature.  But  the  same 
natural  world  has  another  aspect,  quite  distinct  from 
its  utility,  that  calls  for  a  moment's  consideration.  Let 
the  fruit  of  a  tree  stand  for  the  idea  of  utility ;  the  blos- 
soms may  equally  illustrate  the  twin  idea  of  beauty. 
One  is  unquestionably  as  outstanding  and  incontrover- 
tible a  fact  as  the  other. 

IV 

And  is  it  not  possible  to  discern  the  deeper  meaning 
of  both  beauty  and  utility?  Science  will  explain,  in 
an  instance  here  and  there,  how  it  may  be  that  things 
come  to  be  beautiful.  Bees  and  other  insects  which, 
for  example,  have  been  shown  beyond  a  doubt  to  have 
something  to  do  with  the  propagation  of  flowers,  may 
at  the  same  time  have  something  to  do  with  their  col- 
ouring— though  "  what  worlds  away "  from  showing 
how  all  the  beauty  gladdening  the  earth  and  glorify- 
ing the  heavens  came  to  be. 

But  it  is  the  purpose,  not  the  process  or  the  mechan- 
ism, toward  which  our  inquiry  is  directed.    Why,  then. 


138  VISION  AND  POWER 

should  there  be  such  a  thing  as  beauty?  Unlike  cer- 
tain fruits,  it  is  manifestly  not  a  thing  to  be  eaten, 
"  Can  you  get  pretty  flowers  in  your  town  ?  "  It  was 
asked  me  by  an  untaught  German  girl  in  a  plain  and 
lonely  mountain  home.  "  Well,  they  are  very  nice," 
remarked  her  mother ;  "  but  they  don't  put  anything 
on  the  table."  'No,  not  anything  to  eat;  and  if  we 
were  made  to  live  by  bread  alone,  beauty  might  well  be 
slighted  as  an  intruder.  Nor  can  we  weave  it  into 
wearing  apparel  or  build  it  into  a  roof  overhead.  More- 
over, it  is  a  subtle,  mystic,  indefinable  thing.  Still, 
must  there  not  be  some  satisfactory  reason  why  it  has 
been  created — the  why  of  the  loveliness  of  the  flower  as 
well  as  of  the  nutritiveness  of  the  fruit  ?  Science  has 
no  answer.  Only  a  theistic  explanation  is  possible. 
And  the  unschooled  country  girl  was  far  enough  from 
blameworthiness  in  wanting  flowers  as  well  as  bread 
to  feed  upon.  "  If  you  have  two  loaves,"  says  a  Chinese 
proverb,  "  sell  one  and  buy  a  lily." 

But  shall  we  not  give  the  hungry  bread  rather  than 
lilies?  To  be  sure;  but  preferably  let  us  give  them 
both.  It  is  reported  by  a  mission  school  in  a  city 
slum  that  "  the  sending  of  a  flower  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  more  even  than  the  offer  of  bread,  opened  to 
the  Christian  teacher  homes  where  little  children  had 
been  born  to  want  and  were  educated  to  sin." 

At  all  events,  it  is  certain  that  man  is  a  being  who 
responds  to  both  fruit  and  flower,  both  utility  and 
beauty.  Not  some  peculiarly  cultured  individual,  but 
man  as  such  is  a  lover  of  the  beautiful. 

The  father  of  English  poetry — man  of  affairs  and 


VISION  OF  NATURE  139 

action,  soldier,  courtier,  ambassador,  diplomat,  though 
he  was — tells  us  how  that  "  when  comen  is  the  May  " 
he  is  up  early  in  the  morning,  walking  in  the  meadow, 
and  gets  down  on  his  knees  to  see  the  daisy,  "  that  is 
of  all  flowers  the  flower,"  unclose  to  the  light,  "  upon 
the  small  and  soft  and  swete  gras,"  and  how  that — 

"  The  blissful  sight  softeneth  all  my  sorrow." 

But  one  might  say  that  what  the  daisied  meadow  was 
to  Chaucer  in  his  island  of  the  West,  such  are  the  cherry 
blossoms  of  Japan  to  whole  populations  in  that  island 
of  the  East.  ISTot  an  artist  or  two,  but  the  whole  vil- 
lage or  countryside  may  be  seen  laying  business  aside, 
making  whatever  pecuniary  sacrifice  may  be  necessary, 
and  year  after  year  going  forth  from  their  homes,  in 
some  instances  for  many  miles,  to  enjoy  the  simple  sight 
of  trees  that  bear  no  fruit,  but  are  splendid  in  clouds 
of  pink-and-white  bloom.  I  have  heard  a  missionary 
from  Japan  tell  of  a  journey  he  was  making  in  which 
the  jinrikisha  man,  without  the  knowledge  of  his  pas- 
senger, took  a  most  circuitous  route,  going  miles  out 
of  his  way,  in  order  to  see  certain  blossoming  cherry- 
trees  as  he  trotted  toilsomely  by.  Hard  probably  be- 
yond anything  that  we  are  familiar  with  was  that 
man's  struggle  for  bread ;  yet  would  he  also  toil  for 
beauty.  Poet  of  the  West,  coolie  of  the  East,  thej 
were  of  one  and  the  same  aesthetic  nature — in  this,  as 
in  other  respects,  brother  men. 

Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  did  well  to 
interpose  for  the  protection  of  the  waters  of  the  Niagara 
against  any  further  exploiting  for  mechanical  purposes. 


140  VISION  AND  POWER 

For  while  the  right  to  use  the  useful,  though  claimed 
by  only  a  few,  is  to  be  regarded,  the  whole  world  must 
be  protected  in  its  desire  and  right  to  see  the  glory 
of  the  Thunder  of  Water. 

But  the  question  recurs  as  to  the  Divine  purpose 
of  beauty.  Is  the  experience  of  it  an  end  in  itself — 
a  mere  matter  of  refined  enjoyment  giving  no  vision 
of  anything  higher?  There  are  those  no  doubt  who  so 
regard  it.  And  even  the  finest  sense  of  the  beautiful 
in  nature  may  coexist  with  an  unspiritual  mind.  But 
if  there  be  the  spiritual  mind,  the  sense  of  the  beau- 
tiful will  have  its  own  true  revelation  to  make  of  an 
unseen  glory.  Adding  as  it  does  to  the  gladness  and 
well-being  of  life,  it  is  as  true  a  sign  as  are  the  rain 
and  the  fruitful  seasons  that  God  is  good.  Indeed,  is 
it  not  a  hint  and  a  prelude  of  something  yet  to  be 
revealed,  of  something  in  the  faith  and  hope  of  which 
the  heart  leaps  up  in  joy,  of  something  lovely  and  glori- 
ous in  the  nature  of  him  who  has  given  the  vision  of 
beauty  as  so  universal  an  experience  of  his  human 
children  ? 

It  is  reported  of  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  that,  when 
asked,  after  having  travelled  all  day  by  the  Lake  of 
Geneva,  what  he  thought  of  the  Lake  scenery,  he  re- 
plied by  asking,  "  What  lake  ?  "  It  reminds  one  of 
the  remark  concerning  John  Calvin,  that  he  "  could 
live  for  years  by  the  Lake  of  Geneva  without  noting 
its  exquisite  blue,  or  alluding  in  all  his  writings  to 
the  white  summit  lifting  itself  into  the  sky  beyond." 
An  explanation  might  have  been  found,  no  doubt,  in 
the  great  monk's  relentless   asceticism   and  the  great 


VISION  OF  NATURE  141 

theologian's  exclusive  devotion,  even  from  his  youth, 
to  the  intellectual  and  moral  aspects  of  religious  truth. 
What  sense  of  the  beautiful  they  were  born  with  suf- 
fered through  lack  of  use.  Yet  we  dare  believe  they 
would  both  have  been  happier  men  and  better  theo- 
logians, if  in  the  glorious  beauty  of  Alpine  lake  and 
mountain  they  had  heard  the  speech  of  the  same  God 
who  spoke  from  Sinai  and  Calvary  and  is  ever  speak- 
ing in  the  reason  and  conscience  and  spiritual  yearn- 
ings of  man.  For  not  only  Holy  Scripture  but  "  the 
whole  world  is  full  of  His  glory." 


Now  it  could  not  but  be  that  men,  being  such  as  they 
are,  would  in  all  circumstances,  even  under  the  dis- 
abling conditions  of  the  least  developed  life,  have  gained 
some  awareness  of  a  Presence  in  nature,  a  Presence  of 
power  or  beneficence  or  awfulness  or  beauty,  that  the 
outward  eye  could  not  see.  It  seemed  to  look  forth 
from  the  face  of  things,  but  was  not  their  very  own. 
'Not  of  them,  it  was  in  them  and  somehow  looking 
through  them.  "  In  the  pauses  of  work,"  said  a  busy 
and  thoughtful  man,  "  when  a  glance  through  my  win- 
dow reminds  me  of  nature's  silent,  steady  power,  or 
in  the  evening  when  I  have  a  moment  to  look  out  into 
the  measureless  star-filled  spaces,  I  have  the  most  real 
sense  of  God." 

Thus  in  part  may  the  universality  of  religion  be 
explained.  Take  as  an  example  the  earliest  faith,  so 
far  as  can  be  ascertained,  of  our  Indo-European  ances- 
tors in  Middle  Asia.     Their  name  for  God  was  the 


142  VISION  AND  POWER 

word  Sky  (Dyaus).  For  what  vision  so  impressive 
had  ever  greeted  their  eyes  as  the  overarching  heavens 
— so  soft  and  tender,  so  terrible,  so  majestic,  so  varied 
in  its  appearances  while  remaining  ever  essentially  the 
same  ?  The  black  clouds  might  arise  and  the  storm 
threaten  widespread  destruction,  but  the  thunder  would 
cease,  the  storm-clouds  pass,  and  the  sky  was  still  there. 
The  darkness  of  night  might  gather,  but  through  the 
darkness  the  sky  looked  forth  with  its  stars  in  still 
greater  grandeur.  The  people  in  their  nomadic  life 
might  lead  their  flocks  far  up  on  the  mountains  for 
the  summer  and  down  again  in  the  autumn  upon  the 
plains ;  but  they  never  did  leave  the  sky  behind  them. 
They  might  migrate  to  new  pastures  many  leagues 
away;  but  there  in  their  distant  home  the  same  sky 
shone  above  them,  strong  and  unapproachable  as  ever. 
So  they  stood  beneath  the  ever-encompassing  dome  of 
heaven,  radiant,  far,  and  fathomless — "  the  groves  "  do 
not  seem  to  have  been  "  God's  first  temples  " — and  un- 
der that  symbol  worshipped  the  Invisible.  Or  perhaps 
they  identified  him  somehow  with  the  sky,  making  it 
an  idol — we  do  not  certainly  know. 

But  we  do  know  that  theirs  was  a  less  corrupt  form 
of  religious  faith  than  that  which  prevailed,  say,  in 
the  Grseco-Roman  world  in  the  time  of  Barnabas  and 
Paul.  The  Lystrans  believed  in  various  gods  of  im- 
perfect and  sinful  nature  like  themselves — in  Jupiter, 
father  of  gods  and  men,  and  in  Mercury,  his  swift- 
footed  messenger ;  and  the  priest  of  Jupiter,  who  served 
at  a  temple  just  outside  the  city,  made  preparation  to 
offer  sacrifice  to  Barnabas  and  Paul,  taking  them  for 


VISION  OF  NATURE  143 

Jupiter  and  Mercury  come  down  to  earth  in  the  form 
of  men. 

Shall  we  say,  then,  that  the  generations  of  mankind 
w^ere  untrue  to  their  best  knowledge  of  the  Divine? 
They  were  thus  untrue.  God  had  made  them  all  "  of 
one  "  and  had  provided  for  their  personal  and  political 
maintenance,  "  that  they  should  seek  after  him,  if  haply 
they  might  find  him."  And  so  they  did;  but  through 
the  sinfulness  of  the  heart  darkness  came  upon  them, 
and  consequently  even  "  knowing  God,  they  glorified 
him  not  as  God,  neither  were  thankful."  "  To  the 
eye  that  can  see,  to  the  heart  that  is  not  paralyzed," 
says  Frederick  W.  Eobertson,  "  God  is  here.  .  .  .  But 
what  men  do  is  this :  They  put  the  dull  quicksilver  of 
their  own  selfishness  behind  the  glass,  and  so  it  be- 
comes not  the  transparent  medium  through  which  God 
shines,  but  the  dead  opaque  which  reflects  back  them- 
selves." So  did  ancient  Greeks,  notwithstanding  their 
fine  mentality,  in  their  way;  and  so  do  present-day 
Americans,  notwithstanding  their  intelligence,  in  theirs. 

But  it  is  not  so  with  the  men  of  spiritual  vision. 
They  have  not  put  their  own  opaque  selfishness  back 
of  the  glass,  and  thus  received  only  a  reflected  and 
idolatrous  image  of  themselves.  Something  of  the  light 
of  God  shines  through  upon  them,  and  they  do  glorify 
him  as  God.  They  do  give  thanks  for  this  or  that 
gift — the  rain  from  heaven,  the  fruitful  season — ^but 
chiefly  for  the  Infinite  Giver  himself.  Because  there 
has  come  upon  them,  through  inward  renewal  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  blessedness  of  the  pure  in  heart — 
''  they  shall  see  God."     And  as  to  their  own  relation 


144.  VISION  AND  POWER 

to  the  God  of  the  natural  world,  it  is  enough  for  them 
to  have  learned  that  one  word  of  Jesus  concerning  them- 
selves and  the  birds  of  the  air,  "  Your  Heavenly  Father 
feedeth  them." 

It  is  not  as  if  they  believed  in  a  limited,  or  a  localized, 
or  an  absentee  Deity.  Such  is  not  the  Christian  vision 
of  God.  It  is  not  as  if  he  had  opened  his  hand  on 
some  creative  day  in  the  far-distant  past,  for  that  day 
alone — opened  and  closed  it  once  for  all.  Did  he  say  in 
the  beginning.  Let  there  be  light?  He  said  it  this 
morning.  Did  he  set  forth  the  order  and  beauty  of  the 
world  in  the  beginning?  He  is  making  the  outgoings 
of  the  morning  and  the  evening  to  rejoice  to-day.  Did 
he  once  in  the  history  of  the  earth,  perhaps  millions 
of  years  ago,  give  life  to  the  lifeless,  introducing  a  new 
and  higher  order  of  existences  and  of  history?  He 
is  just  as  truly  the  Fountain  of  life  this  passing  mo- 
ment. "  Thou  sendest  forth  thy  Spirit;  they  are 
created." 

Here,  therefore,  in  all  men's  outward  eyes  and  ears, 
is  revelation,  speech — day  and  night  in  their  sublime 
procession  down  through  the  ages  bearing  witness  con- 
tinually. Not  in  conventional  or  articulate  language. 
In  this  sense,  "  there  is  no  speech  nor  language,"  "  their 
voice  is  not  heard."  Form  and  colour  and  movement, 
light  and  sound,  these  are  nature's  language ;  and  the  in- 
terpretation is  for  the  sensitive  and  reverent  thinking 
mind. 

VI 

Shall  we  try  to  look  further  or  more  minutely  into 
this  vast  vision  of  the  sense-world  with  which  our  lives 


VISION  OF  NATURE  145 

are  so  closely  intertwined?  If  so,  we  shall  feel  its 
mystery  no  less  than  we  have  learned  its  utility  or 
seen  its  beauty.  A  revelation  of  the  Eternal  Reason, 
undoubtedly;  but  who  will  tell  its  whole  varied 
meaning  ? 

True,  we  know  that  such  questions  are  unanswerable; 
for  the  questioner  had  as  well  ask,  Who  will  explain 
the  universe?  Nevertheless,  we  cannot  but  look  at 
times  with  still  wondering  sight,  with  still  questioning 
spirit,  upon  the  ever-present  outspread  mystery  of  earth 
and  sky  in  its  incessant  appeal  to  the  understanding, 
the  imagination,  the  heart.  Passing  through  the  rooms 
of  an  old  homestead  in  which  successive  households 
have  for  generation  after  generation  gathered,  and  abode 
together,  and  parted,  one  is  fain  to  imagine,  Were 
these  time-stained  walls  endowed  with  speech,  what  life- 
stories  might  they  tell.  But  what  vastly  greater  secrets 
are  hidden  in  any  far-away  star  or  wayside  tree  or 
flower  in  the  crannied  rock — or  in  the  rock  itself. 
There  is  so  much  to  which  the  inner  ear  would  eagerly 
listen,  if  any,  even  an  infinitesimal,  object  in  nature 
could  and  would  tell  its  story.  In  certain  moods  one 
feels  that  the  silence  must  somehow  be  broken;  and 
some  day  perhaps  it  will. 

Meantime  enquiring  minds  are  bent  on  finding  out 
what  they  can ;  and  this,  too,  they  may  well  believe  to 
be  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God.  Let  them  en- 
quire. The  Master  has  spoken  in  one  of  his  parables 
of  a  man  who  should  cast  seed  on  the  earth,  "  and  the 
seed  should  spring  up  and  grow,  he  Tcnoweth  not  how." 
Let  the  sower,  then,  ask  the  scientist.     In  vain.     The 


146  VISION  AND  POWER 

mystery  of  life  and  growth  is  as  inscrutable  to  the  one 
as  to  the  other,  to  the  man  who  spends  his  life  in  the 
laboratory  as  to  the  man  holding  the  plough.  And  it 
is  the  most  knowing  and  thoughtful  that  are  most  tan- 
talized or  stricken  dumb  with  wonder  by  the  near 
Unknown — 

,  "  that  true  world  within  the  world  we  see, 

Whereof  our  world  is  but  the  bounding  shore." 

Unto  what  far  heights  of  thought  is  this  new-old 
"  world  we  see,"  with  its  myriad  fellow  visible  worlds, 
winning  our  minds:  through  the  story  of  the  heavens 
unto  illimitable  space,  through  the  story  of  the  rocks 
unto  illimitable  time,  through  the  story  of  unceasing 
motion  unto  illimitable  energy ;  and  "  brooding  im- 
penetrable over  all,  an  infinitude  of  mystery." 

ITot,  however,  that  all  research  is  vain.  Have  we 
not  noted  some  of  the  great  things  which  the  genius 
of  observation  and  experiment  has  discovered  ?  Adding 
to  our  unaided  powers  sundry  instruments  of  discern- 
ment, it  is  still,  with  skilful  and  penetrative  thought, 
making  discoveries  which  give  intimation,  suggestion, 
of  greater  wonders  beyond  this  world-shore.  Have  we 
ceased,  through  familiarity,  to  feel  the  marvel  of 
telephonic  speech?  Imagine  a  speaker  with  a  voice  so 
loud  and  distinct  as  to  be  audible  all  the  way  from 
the  city  of  New  York  to  San  Francisco.  It  would 
require  five  hours  for  his  words  to  traverse  the  inter- 
vening distance.  Five  hours  after  speaking  in  the 
one  place  he  would  be  heard  in  the  other.  But  any 
one  of  us  could  now  speak  into  a  telephone  in  New 
York  and  be  heard  in  San  Francisco  instantly — that  is 


VISION  OF  NATURE  147 

to  say,  in  about  one-sixtieth  of  a  second.  Geographic 
distance  is  practically  annihilated — thought,  news,  will- 
power, joy,  grief,  one  person's  mental  state  which  may 
change  another's  to  the  most  momentous  issues,  trans- 
mitted over  three  thousand  miles  in  less  than  the  twin- 
kling of  an  eye.  It  seems  the  speech  of  spirit  to 
spirit,  with  but  the  slightest  dependence  upon  material 
mediums  or  organs  of  flesh  and  blood. 

Our  patient  explorer,  penetrating  with  his  search- 
light into  the  thick  darkness,  may  be  able  also  to  bring 
some  report,  tentative  at  least,  about  the  material  ele- 
ments themselves;  while  the  scientific  imagination  pic- 
tures every  atom  of  matter,  even  in  the  granite  rock  or 
the  bar  of  Bessemer  steel,  as  swiftly  vibrating  among  its 
fellow-atoms,  never  going  wrong  and  never  at  rest. 
In  fact,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  matter  is  even  spoken 
of  as,  in  the  last  analysis,  simply  force. 

The  atoms,  they  tell  us,  seem  to  be  made  up  of  elec- 
trons, thousands  of  electrons  perhaps  to  a  single  atom. 
Accordingly,  the  atoms  manifest  themselves  as  electric 
force.  "  But  these  electrons  " — so  I  asked  a  friend  who 
had  devoted  his  whole  life  from  boyhood  to  the  study 
and  teaching  of  chemical  science — "  must  there  not  be 
a  certain  thread  or  core  of  substance  about  which  the 
electricity  gathers  or  flows  ?  "  The  modest  answer  was, 
"  We  do  not  know."  But  there  is  a  truth  here  dis- 
closed which  it  would  be  gratuitously  modest  not  to 
believe  and  declare.  For  all  these  minute  and  orderly 
researches  into  the  hidden  facts  of  nature  unite  with 
common  observation  of  the  useful  and  the  beautiful 
to  show  that  the  power  from  which  all  things  in  earth 


14d  VISION  AND  POWER 

and  sky  proceed  is  power  directed  by  mind.  Otherwise 
it  would  be  folly  to  make  it  a  subject  of  study,  for  the 
very  good  reason  that  there  would  be  nothing  in  it 
to  understand.  Only  the  product  of  intelligence  can  be 
intelligible.  It  is  not  a  jargon,  but  a  language  which 
the  lover  of  natural  knowledge  is  trying  so  laboriously 
and  faithfully  to  read.  How  could  he  ever  hope  to 
read  it,  if  it  were  not  a  language?  It  is  a  system 
of  thought.  Who  did  the  thinking  ?  Yes,  a  system  of 
localized  thought;  and  it  requires  the  best  thought  of 
the  best  thinkers  to  trace  out  a  little  portion  of  it 
through  successive  generations.  Could  any  one  less 
than  a  thinker  have  put  it  in  ? 

By  what  name  ineffable,  then,  shall  the  Creative 
Thinker  be  called  ?  The  supreme  revelation  of  his  heart 
and  moral  will  has  been  given  in  Jesus  his  Son :  "  When 
ye  pray  say,  Father,  Hallowed  be  thy  name." 

vn 

How  rich  also  is  nature  in  symbols  of  the  spiritual. 
True,  Jesus  saw  a  fitting  figure  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  in  the  outward  human  world — in  domestic  and 
social  relations,  in  trade  and  industry,  in  financial 
transactions,  in  houses  built  on  the  rock  and  on  the  sand, 
in  proprietorship  and  stewardship,  in  children's  games, 
in  grown  men's  riches  and  poverty.  But  he  found  it 
also  in  the  world  of  nature.  "  From  the  fig-tree,"  he 
says,  "  learn  her  parable."  The  fig-tree,  then,  is  a 
symbol.  She  has  her  parable  to  tell  of  truths  or  events 
in  a  higher  sphere.  So  likewise  do  the  other  trees.  So 
does  the  light  of  day  without  which  they  would  all 


VISION  OF  NATURE  149 

perish.  "  It  is  God  that  said,  Light  shall  shine  out 
of  darkness,  who  shined  in  our  hearts  " — God's  light 
without  a  figure  and  foretoken  of  his  light  within.  So 
is  the  whole  visible  creation  a  parable.  "  Our  natural 
is  matched  ever  with  the  supernatural,"  so  that  what 
we  call  "  nature  "  is  symbolic,  typical,  of  the  spiritual 
sphere. 

Follow  a  mathematical  demonstration  at  the  black- 
board. The  demonstrator  is  dealing  with  mathematical 
truths,  which  are  pure  intellectual  conceptions.  Nev- 
ertheless, you  will  see  him  draw  a  line,  straight  or 
curved,  then  another  and  another — perhaps  a  whole 
complicated  diagram.  Now,  is  that  geometric  figure, 
white  on  a  black  surface,  of  the  nature  of  mathematical 
truths?  No  more  than  it  is  of  the  nature  of  hope  or 
love.  And  yet  it  is  a  constructed  symbol  of  a  certain 
group  of  such  truths,  and  helps  us  no  little  to  under- 
stand them  and  to  communicate  them  to  other  minds. 
So  with  natural  symbols  and  the  truths  of  the  spirit 
which  they  are  fitted  to  illustrate. 

Nor  need  any  one  shut  his  ears  to  the  words  of  God 
in  nature  in  order  that  he  may  listen  more  intently 
to  the  greater  words  of  God  in  the  Scriptures  and  the 
soul.  The  truth  is  one,  the  witnesses  concur,  '^  He 
who  while  he  walks  abroad  repeating  the  law  to  him- 
self," said  a  Jewish  scribe,  "  interrupts  himself  and 
exclaims,  '  How  fair  is  this  tree '  ...  to  him  it  is 
accounted  by  the  Scriptures  as  if  he  were  forfeiting  his 
life."  I  should  greatly  prefer  the  teaching  of  a  psalm- 
ist of  Israel,  when  he  sings  of  "  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  " 
which  Jehovah   "  has  planted,"   and  of  the  earth  as 


160  VISION  AND  POWER 

"  full  "  of  his  "  riches."     I  should  prefer  the  answer 
of  the  flowers  to  a  poet-scribe  of  to-day : 

"  They  said,  to  every  flower  He  made 
God's  thought  was  root  and  stem — 
Perhaps  said  what  the  lilies  said 
When  Jesus  looked  at  them." 

We  know  at  least  that  to  Jesus  the  lilies  were  a  sacra- 
ment— a  visible  sign  and  pledge  of  God's  gracious  care. 
And  we  know  also  that  he  opened  his  mouth  in  para- 
bles and  likened  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  the  Cre- 
ator's handiwork  in  earth  and  sea  and  sky. 

Furthermore,  the  symbol  may  have  a  deeper  than  its 
mere  symbolic  meaning.  It  may  be  a  sign,  an  assur- 
ance, a  proof.  A  familiar  instance  would  be  the  grass 
and  flowers  of  the  field.  These  have  in  all  ages  been 
the  chosen  symbol  of  human  mortality.  "  All  flesh  is 
grass."  "  He  cometh  forth  like  a  flower  and  is  cut 
down."  But  does  not  the  grass  contain  a  more  spiritual 
and  significant  meaning  than  that  of  mortality?  It 
contains  the  very  opposite  truth — that,  namely,  of  im- 
mortality. Because  it  is  the  Divine  provision  for  the 
flocks  and  herds  of  the  pasturage;  and  we  know  that 
he  who  cares  for  them  will  "  much  more "  care  for 
us.  "  He  causeth  the  grass  to  grow  for  the  cattle." 
Much  more,  then,  will  the  God  of  nature,  our  Heavenly 
Father,  provide  for  the  needs  of  his  children — the  need 
of  bread,  the  higher  needs  of  knowledge,  beauty,  friend- 
ship, and  love,  and  highest  of  all,  incommensurably 
greater  than  any  other,  the  need  of  that  communion  with 
himself  in  which  is  spiritual  and  eternal  life. 


VISION  OF  NATURE  151 

We  are  not  surprised  at  the  story  told  of  Galileo,  that 
when  questioned,  during  his  imprisonment  for  heresy, 
concerning  his  faith  in  a  Supreme  Being,  he  remarked, 
pointing  to  a  simple  straw  on  the  prison  floor :  "  From 
the  structure  of  that  little  tube  alone  would  I  infer 
with  certainty  the  existence  of  a  wise  Creator."  The 
grass  of  the  earth,  with  stem  and  blade  and  bloom,  is 
indeed  an  exquisite  living  contrivance.  Every  eye  that 
looks  upon  it  is  pleased,  every  reverent  mind  that 
studies  it  is  stricken  with  wonder  and  admiration.  But 
it  is  not  accounted  of  God  too  good  for  his  cattle  on  a 
thousand  hills,  since  they  are  so  made  as  to  need  it 
and  to  hunger  for  its  enjoyment,  l^or  will  he  account 
any  gift,  even  the  gift  of  eternal  life  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord,  too  good  for  a  need  and  a  hunger  which 
his  own  Spirit  has  created  in  the  hearts  of  his  children. 

Such  is  the  voice  of  reason  and  conscience.  Such 
is  the  instinct  of  the  heart.  Such  is  the  teaching  of 
Jesus.  And  even  the  short-lived  grass  at  our  feet,  chosen 
emblem  of  mortality,  offers,  alike  to  ordered  thought 
and  spiritual  vision,  its  proper  proof  of  eternal  life. 


VII 
VISION  OF  MAN 

And  a  voice  came  again  unto  him  the  second  time, 
What  God  has  cleansed  make  not  thou  common. — Acts 
10:  15. 

And  when  they  heard  these  things  they  held  their  peace 
and  glorified  God,  saying,  Then  to  the  Gentiles  also  hath 
God  granted  repentance  unto  life. — Acts  11:  18. 

WHILE  the  materials  of  Peter's  vision  were 
drawn  from  the  world  of  physical  nature, 
its  meaning  related  it  far  more  closely  to 
the  world  of  human  nature.  For  the  manifold  animal 
life  which  appeared  so  prominently  in.it  meant,  being 
interpreted,  the  various  races  and  conditions  of  men. 
It  was  for  their  sakes  and  not  for  the  sake  of  beast  or 
bird  or  creeping  thing  that  the  Voice  forbade  this  Judaic 
apostle  to  call  that  common  or  unclean  which  God  had 
pronounced  clean. 

We  have  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  perpetually  unfold- 
ing greatness  of  nature.  Earth  is  indeed  crammed  with 
life  and  fruitfulness,  with  marvels  and  treasures;  and 
this  upper  region  of  light  and  air  in  which  our  earthly 
days  are  spent  is  equally  full  of  things  exceeding  pre- 
cious. Beauty  and  utility,  side  by  side  or  interwoven, 
with  ever-attendant  mystery,  are  everywhere.  More  and 
more  are  they  gaining  human  recognition.  By  observa- 
tion and  industry,  by  that  patient  common  sense  which 

152 


VISION  OF  MAN  153 

has  been  called  science^  or  by  that  fine  mystic  insight 
of  imagination  called  poetry,  men  have  ever  been  com- 
ing to  their  own  in  this  kingdom  of  nature. 

And  the  truth  hereby  suggested  is  the  supremacy 
of  man.  For  the  knower  must  be  acknowledged  greater 
than  the  unknowing  object  of  his  thought — even  though 
that  object  should  be  ten  thousand  solar  systems.  So, 
a  larger  and  still  a  larger  meaning  has  been  found  in 
the  inspired  doxology — 

"  Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion  over  the  wrorks  of  Thy  hands." 

May  neither  the  student  nor  the  lover  of  nature  ever 
forget  that  by  as  much  as  the  works  of  God  in  the 
natural  creation  are  seen  to  be  great  and  wonderful, 
by  so  much  must  the  seeing  soul  appear  greater  and 
more  wonderful. 


Of  recent  years  the  vision  which  any  civilized  man 
may  have  of  his  fellows  has  been  notably  enlarged. 
Through  opening  gateways  of  knowledge,  speech,  self- 
interest,  and  brotherhood,  strange  peoples  have  been 
passing  to  and  fro  and  becoming  acquaintances.  By 
reason  of  ever-multiplying  travels,  literature,  commer- 
cial relations,  through  not  waiting  for  the  swiftest  mail 
but  writing  and  speaking  at  a  distance,  through  the 
world-wide  diffusion  of  ideas  on  all  subjects  of  human 
interest,  through  a  growing  spirit  of  humanity — in  all 
such  ways  the  world  of  man  has  been  disclosed  in  an 
unprecedented  manner  to  the  individual  imagination. 
Well  may  it  be  said  that  "  no  other  century  has  ever 


154  VISION  AND  POWER 

heard  the  heart-beat  of  humanity  so  distinctly  as  ours 
hears  it." 

And  as  much  as  ever,  much  more  than  ever,  this  hu- 
man world  is  seen  to  be  a  unity.  The  imaginative  child 
making  his  first  visit  to  a  distant  part  of  the  country 
is  likely  to  meet  vpith  disappointment  at  finding  things 
not  80  new  and  strange  as  he  had  been  led  to  ex- 
pect. In  his  dreamful  little  brain  he  had  pictured  all 
things — trees,  streams,  houses,  skies,  people — as  looking 
decidedly  different  from  what  he  had  been  accustomed 
to ;  but  now  he  finds  the  new  to  be  very  much  the  same 
as  the  old.  A  somewhat  similar  disillusionment  awaits 
the  inexperienced  mind  in  making  acquaintance  with 
people  of  other  lands.  Our  antipodal  neighbours — I 
have  occasion  to  talk  with  some  of  them  from  day  to 
day — on  acquaintance  remind  us  very  much  of  our- 
selves. The  story  of  the  "  inscrutable  East  "  may  be 
told,  as  it  has  been  said  of  some  others,  in  very  few 
words:  There  is  none.  What  a  commentary  has  been 
written  by  our  modern  world  on  that  word  of  Paul  in 
ancient  Athens,  that  God  "  made  of  one  every  nation 
of  men."  To  be  sure,  everybody  is  inscrutable,  if  by 
such  a  term  we  mean  not  perfectly  knowable  either  to 
his  neighbour  or  to  himself — but  no  one  people.  East 
or  West,  any  more  than  another.  "  Of  one  "  human- 
ness  God  has  made  them  all. 

But  how  does  a  man  come  by  the  knowledge  of  his 
fellows?  We  cannot  see  one  another.  True,  the  man 
who  would  deny  the  existence  of  other  persons  besides 
himself  might  well  be  regarded  as  superlatively  frivo- 
lous, or,  if  serious  in  his  egoism,  as  insane.    But  it  would 


VISION  OF  MAN  155 

not  be  because  he  had  ever,  except  of  course  in  a  figura- 
tive sense,  seen  any  of  them.  The  face  that  we  are 
so  glad  to  look  upon  is  not  our  friend.  Alas  if  it  were. 
It  is  only  a  bit  of  featured  and  coloured  surface — a 
symbol,  to  be  sure  wondrously  expressive,  but  nothing 
more.  Take  out  of  it  that  which  thinks  and  loves  and 
wills,  and  there  is  nothing  left  to  speak  to  or  hold  com- 
munion with.  Yet  that  soul,  that  thinking,  loving,  will- 
ing self,  is  as  invisible  as  a  passing  angel. 

"  I  have  not  seen  thee,  though  mine  eyes 
Hold  now  the  image  of  thy  face; 
In  vain,  through  form,  I  strive  to  trace 
The  soul  I  love:   that  deeper  lies." 

Neither  can  we  reach  forth  a  hand  and  touch  it.  It  is 
absolutely  secure  from  either  caress  or  blow. 

All  along  through  life  we  find  that,  in  our  eating 
and  drinking,  our  breathing,  our  sitting  still  or  mov- 
ing about,  our  seeing  and  hearing,  we  have  a  place  in 
a  visible  order  of  nature,  and  are  subject  to  its  laws. 
All  along  through  life  we  find  it  equally  true  that  in 
reason  and  conscience  and  will  and  personality  and  spir- 
itual vision,  we  have  a  place  in  an  invisible  moral  order, 
and  that  our  truest  life  is  realized  only  in  obedience 
to  its  laws  of  righteousness  and  love. 

Listen  for  a  moment  even  to  a  pagan  philosopher- — 
Epictetus :  "  Betray  secrets  ?  "  "  Indeed,  I  will  not,  for 
that  rests  in  my  own  hands."  "  Then  I  will  put  you 
in  chains."  "  My  good  sir,  what  are  you  talking  about  ? 
Put  me  in  chains?  No,  no;  you  may  put  my  leg  in 
chains,  but  not  even  Zeus  himself  can  master  my 
will." 


156  VISION  AND  POWER 

Or,  if  you  please,  hear  Justin  Martyr,  an  ardent  stu- 
dent of  philosophy  who  became  a  Christian,  in  his 
Apology  to  Antoninus  Pius,  the  Roman  emperor :  "  For 
us  [Christians],  we  reckon  that  no  evil  can  be  done  us, 
unless  we  be  convicted  as  evildoers  or  be  proved  to 
be  wicked  men;  and  you,  you  can  kill  but  you  cannot 
hurt  us."  So,  the  headsman's  axe,  under  whose  stroke 
Justin  in  old  age  yielded  up  his  body  for  Christ's  sake, 
did  not  "  hurt  "  him  at  all.  Wherefore  it  is  no  idle 
boast  for  one  to  say.  Nobody  can  injure  me  except 
myself. 

But  this  soul,  this  self,  invulnerable,  invisible,  and 
far  more  real  than  its  bodily  form,  can  communicate 
with  other  souls  at  will,  showing  that  it  is  and  that  it 
is  a  person.  It  can  declare  itself  by  certain  signs 
which  it  puts  forth.  These  we  see  or  touch  or  hear, 
and  through  the  interpretation  of  them  we  know  that 
our  friend  is  standing  before  us — that  other  persons 
coexist  with  us.    It  is  mediate  knowledge. 

But  we  do  have  immediate  knowledge  of  ourselves. 
Here  are  no  such  signs  to  be  interpreted.  It  is  a  mat- 
ter of  self-consciousness,  simple,  direct,  indefinable. 
Hence,  proverbially  difficult  as  it  is  to  heed  the  ancient 
maxim,  "  Know  thyself,"  a  person  may  be  expected  to 
know  himself  better  than  he  knows  other  persons.  Not 
that  he  can  be  any  surer  practically  that  he  is  than  that 
they  are,  but  it  is  his  own  fault  if  he  does  not  know 
more  truly  what  he  is  than  what  they  are.  "  No  man 
knoweth  the  things  of  a  man  save  the  spirit  of  man 
which  is  in  him."  In  fact,  it  is  only  through  knowl- 
edge of  our  own  powers  and  experiences  that  we  can 


VISION  OF  MAN  157 

interpret  the  signs  of  like  powers  and  experiences  in 
other  persons. 

II 

What,  then,  is  man?  how  shall  we  regard  one  an- 
olher?  The  question  is  suited  to  evoke  a  multitude  of 
answers.  All  of  them,  too,  may  be  true  enough  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  answerers,  yet  most  of  them  sadly 
superficial  and  incomplete. 

In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  the  self-seeker,  so 
far  as  he  interests  himself  in  people  at  all,  sees  them 
as  the  prey  of  his  own  unhallowed  desires,  while  the 
lover  of  his  race  recognizes  them  as  companions, 
friends,  brothers. 

More  specifically,  the  spirit  or  motive,  whatever  it 
may  be,  with  which  a  man  regards  his  fellow-men  neces- 
sarily affects  the  vision  of  them  which  he  gains  and 
the  course  of  action  toward  them  which  he  pursues. 
The  scheming  politician,  for  example,  sees  men  as 
voters;  the  crafty  salesman,  as  buyers;  the  military 
leader,  as  a  fighting  machine.  And  they  deal  with 
them,  in  each  case,  accordingly.  Or,  again,  in  a  com- 
passionate mood  one  sees  only  the  sufferings  of  hu- 
manity ;  when  optimistic,  only  their  joys ;  in  a  moment 
of  keen  appreciation  of  the  shortness  of  human  life, 
only  their  mortality — as  Xerxes,  according  to  the  an- 
cient story,  looking  upon  his  vast  invading  army,  was 
suddenly  moved  to  tears  at  the  thought :  "  A  hundred 
years,  and  not  one  of  all  this  mighty  host  will  be 
alive." 

Or,  if  for  individuals  we  substitute  great  bodies  of 


168  VISION  AND  POWER 

people,  and  ask  how  the  nations  of  the  world  regard 
one  another,  the  answer  will  be  contained  in  such 
like  and  unlike  words  as  War,  Subjugation,  Commer- 
cialism, Diplomacy,  Humanity,  Arbitration,  Peace. 

But  there  is  a  deeper  insight.  It  is  the  recognition 
of  that  in  a  man's  nature  which  makes  him  a  free 
and  accountable  intelligence  toward  God,  and  not  sim- 
ply a  fellow-creature  but  a  brother  toward  the  whole 
world  of  mankind.  Without  a  recognition  of  this 
moral  life,  man  as  man  is  not  really  known.  An  eagle 
can  walk;  but  to  think  habitually  of  him  as  simply 
a  walking  animal  would  be  to  pay  this  king  of  birds 
a  very  inadequate  honour.  Take  no  note  of  those 
broader  relations  which  he  sustains  to  earth  and  sky 
through  his  matchless  powers  of  vision  and  of  flight, 
and  you  rob  him  of  his  high  preeminence.  It  is  his  eyes 
and  his  wings,  not  his  feet,  that  make  him  an  eagle. 
And  what  is  it  that  makes  man  man  ?  It  is  his  power 
of  spiritual  vision,  deep  and  far,  and  of  correspondent 
daily  action.  It  is  his  capacity  to  know  God  and  to 
serve  his  fellows  in  God's  name. 

And  such  vision  is  to  be  gained,  first  of  all,  through 
self-knowledge.  For  the  unity  of  the  human  race  is 
a  unity  in  spiritual  and  not  simply  in  physical  or  intel- 
lectual or  emotional  quality.  To  know  one,  therefore, 
is  to  know  all;  and  that  one  with  whom  such  knowl- 
edge must  needs  begin  is,  in  every  case,  not  the  neigh- 
bour, nor  the  other  man  whoever  he  may  be,  but  one's 
self.    What  am  I? 


VISION  OF  MAN  159 


in 


We  come  to  the  truest  knowledge  of  ourselves  through 
the  knowledge  of  Another — through  self -judgment  in 
the  light  of  Christ. 

When  Simeon,  the  aged  seer,  worshipping  in  the 
temple,  saw,  in  the  person  of  the  child  Jesus,  the  Christ 
whose  coming  had  been  so  long  awaited  by  the  faith- 
ful, he  said :  "  Behold,  this  child  is  set  for  the  falling 
and  rising  up  of  many  in  Israel,  and  for  a  sign  which 
is  spoken  against  .  .  .  that  thoughts  out  of  many  hearts 
may  be  revealed."  Jesus,  therefore,  was  to  be  a  re- 
vealer  of  men,  first  to  themselves — then,  indeed,  to 
others.  In  the  light  of  the  truth  shining  forth  from 
his  life  of  stainless  and  unfailing  love,  they  should 
fall  down  at  the  realization  of  their  sinfulness  and 
should  rise  again  in  the  peace  of  forgiveness  and  im- 
mortal hope. 

There  is  no  better  example  than  this  of  Peter  the 
fisherman  in  process  of  training  as  a  seer  of  Chris- 
tianity. How  he  fell  beneath  a  sense  of  sin  and  shame ! 
"  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O  Lord."  "  And  the  Lord  turned 
and  looked  upon  Peter.  And  Peter  remembered  the 
word  of  the  Lord.  .  .  .  And  he  went  out  and  wept 
bitterly."  But  how  he  rose  up  again  in  the  strength 
of  that  love  which  healed  his  backsliding !  "  Lovest 
thou  me?  And  he  said  unto  him.  Lord,  thou  knowest 
all  things;  thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee.  Jesus  saith 
unto  him.  Feed  my  sheep."  "  And  do  thou,  when 
once  thou  hast  turned   again,  stablish  thy  brethren." 


160  VISION  AND  POWER 

In  the  presence  of  Jesus  the  listening  heart  will  make 
full  confession  of  itself.  Jesus  will  break  it  up,  that 
he  may  form  it  anew. 

"  O  Life  of  Jesus — the  unseen 

Which  found  such  glorious  show — 
Deeper  than  death  and  more  serene! 
How  poor  am  I!  how  low!  " 

'Now,  while  the  sunlight  does  a  great  deal  more  for 
the  earth  than  to  illumine  it  so  that  things  may  be 
seen  as  they  are,  yet  this  simple  bidding  away  of  the 
darkness  means  very  much.  In  like  manner,  while 
Jesus,  the  Light  of  the  world,  would  fain  do  a  great 
deal  more  for  a  man  than  to  show  him  the  facts  of 
his  spiritual  self,  yet  this  revelation  is  of  inestimable 
value. 

Indeed,  was  not  the  Eternal  Word,  even  before  the 
incarnation  in  Jesus,  the  true  light  of  men — "  the  light 
that  lighteth  every  man  "  ?  "  He  is  the  Word  " — so 
Justin,  philosopher  and  Christian  martyr,  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  say — '^  of  whom  every  race  of  men  were  par- 
takers ;  and  those  who  lived  reasonably  {fxsra  Xoyov) 
are  Christians,  even  though  they  have  been  thought 
atheists."  * 

IV 

!N"ow,  let  us  suppose  that  a  man  either  of  the  Orient 
or  of  the  Occident,  anywhere  on  earth,  with  this  light 
of  God  shining  into  his  darkness,  should  bid  it  wel- 
come. Not  wilfully  blinding  his  own  eyes,  let  him,  on 
the  contrary,  will  to  believe  and  do  the  truth.  What 
would  be  such  a  man's  inward  vision?  What  would 
he  learn  about  himself  and  the  moral  order  in  which 

*  I  Apology,  xlvii. 


VISION  OF  MAN  161 

he  is  living  his  life?  The  answer  is  not  a  matter  of 
conjecture,  but  of  experience  abundantly  testified  to. 

For  one  thing,  he  would  perceive  a  distinction  be- 
tween right  and  wrong,  the  "  Thou  shalt "  and  the 
^'  Thou  shalt  not  "  of  duty.  He  would  know,  as  it  has 
been  expressed,  "  There  is  something  in  me  that  de- 
mands something  of  me."  He  would  feel  the  authority 
of  that  law  which,  as  Cicero  has  told  us,  was  not  thought 
out  by  human  ingenuity  or  created  by  "  a  mere  decree 
of  the  people,"  but  is  "  a  certain  eternal  principle  en- 
joining or  forbidding  all  things  in  wisdom."  *  Thus 
would  he  be  included  in  the  outlook  of  the  Apostle  to 
the  Gentiles,  who  says :  "  By  manifestation  of  the  truth 
commending  ourselves  to  every  mart's  conscience  in  the 
sight  of  God." 

At  the  same  time  such  a  man  would  be  sensible  of 
having  done  wrong  instead  of  right — of  having  been 
cruel  or  unjust  or  disobedient  or  profane — and  would 
feel  a  consequent  sense  of  guilt  and  moral  disapproval ; 
and  there  would  be  an  inner  conflict — when  he  would 
do  good,  evil  being  present  with  him. 

He  would  also  be  conscious  that  he  was  not  suffi- 
cient unto  himself,  and  would  stretch  forth  hands  of 
prayer,  seeking  help  where  he  hoped  it  might  be  found 
— like  the  African  chief,  Sekomi,  praying  Livingstone, 
"  I  wish  you  would  change  my  heart,  give  me  medicine 
to  change  it,  for  it  is  proud  and  angry  always  " — seek- 
ing God,  if  haply  he  "  might  feel  after  him,  and  find  " 
the  ever-near,  though  unseen,  Helper. 

And  together  with  it  all,  he  would  become  aware  of  a 

*  De  Legibus  ii,  4. 


162  VISION  AND  POWER 

certain  possible  moral  goodness  and  spiritual  satisfac- 
tion, an  ideal  of  character  and  conduct. 

Of  such  a  soul,  then,  these  would  be,  as  more  or  less 
distinctly  felt,  the  most  momentous  facts  in  personal 
experience.  And  now  it  is  to  such  a  one,  thus  proved 
capable  of  spiritual  illumination,  that  the  Eternal  Word, 
once  made  flesh  and  dwelling  among  men,  is  offered  in 
the  gospel. 

Does  any  one  ask  as  to  the  need  that  the  Word  should 
have  come  in  the  flesh,  and  should  come  again  and 
abide  through  the  gospel  and  the  power  of  the  Spirit? 
It  would  be  to  ask  why,  since  God  had  already  done 
a  great  work  for  the  world,  he  should  do  another  and 
a  greater — why  the  dawn  should  be  followed  by  the 
morning.  It  would  be  to  ask  why  Cornelius  and  his 
household,  who  already  feared  God  and  did  righteous- 
ness, could  not  have  got  on  well  enough  without  the 
gospel  of  the  Heavenly  Father  and  the  Elder  Brother. 
"  I  have  not  written  unto  you,"  says  the  Apostle  John, 
"  because  ye  know  not  the  truth,  but  because  ye  know 
it."  They  had  made  a  good  beginning;  he  would  lead 
them  on,  because  they  were  ready  for  it,  in  the  truth 
of  the  Infinite  Love. 

It  was  the  Master's  way.  It  is  the  way  of  God  in 
all  perfecting  of  the  soul.  Childhood,  for  illustration, 
is  a  beautiful  thing  in  itself,  with  a  grace  and  winsome- 
ness  all  its  own;  but  no  one  enquires  doubtfully  why 
it  should  be  followed  in  due  season  by  youth,  early 
manhood  or  womanhood,  and  maturity.  Spiritually, 
likewise,  the  ultimate  aim  is  not  childhood.  It  is  the 
making  of  a  man. 


VISION  OF  MAN  163 

Furthermore,  for  the  realization  of  this  aim  the  pres- 
ence and  friendship  of  men  who  themselves  have  the 
life  of  the  Spirit  is  demanded.  It  is  not  good  that 
one  should  be  left  wholly  to  one's  own  endeavours  after 
a  holy  life.  On  the  contrary,  it  would  be  disastrous. 
We  need  to  see  the  true  and  good  personalized  in  our 
fellow-men.  Not  a  little  are  we  all  dependent  upon  pro- 
phetic spirits  whose  enlightenment  is  greater  than  ours 
to  clarify  our  own  spiritual  vision.  Do  we  need  others 
to  enlighten  us  intellectually,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  we  as  well  as  they  are  rational  beings  ?  Then,  why 
not  also  spiritually? 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
they  too,  even  the  saintliest  of  them,  are  not  sinless. 
At  best  these  good  Christian  men  and  women  are  broken 
lights  of  the  Divine  righteousness;  and  what  we  need 
is  the  Sun.  We  need  to  see  the  morally  right  and  the 
spiritually  true  in  one  who  is  himself  morally  right 
and  spiritually  true  without  defect  or  stain.  Such  a 
one  would  be  the  absolutely  trustworthy  Guide  of  the 
conscience  and  Master  of  the  spirit.  To  know  him 
would  be  to  know  both  what  we  actually  are  and  what 
we  ought  to  be.  To  enter  into  fellowship  with  him 
would  be  to  become  indeed  sons  of  the  light.  In  this 
fellowship  a  soul  might  grow  unto  perfected  spiritual 
manhood. 


Yet  more,  yea,  most  of  all,  it  is  in  this  Righteous 
One  that  God  himself  enters  with  mightiest  power  into 
the  human  heart,  responding  to  its  cry,  fulfilling  its 


164.  VISION  AND  POWER 

desire  for  a  grace  that  brings  salvation,  and  making 
atonement  in  suffering  love  for  the  sin  of  the  world. 
"  Because  Christ  also  suffered  for  sins  once,  the  right- 
eous for  the  unrighteous,  that  he  might  bring  us  to 
God."  "  Giving  thanks  unto  the  Father  .  .  .  who  de- 
livered us  out  of  the  power  of  darkness  and  translated 
us  into  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  his  love,  in  whom 
we  have  our  redemption,  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins." 
To  this  supreme  end  came  he  into  the  world,  and 
to  this  end  is  he  abiding  in  it  evermore.  Is  there  a 
single  soul  of  the  millions  on  earth  that  needs  such 
Light  and  Salvation  ?     If  one,  then  all. 

I  have  an  intelligent  young  Christian  friend  from 
Korea  who  was  brought  up  a  Buddhist.  A  few  days 
ago  he  told  me  something  of  what  his  spiritual  ex- 
perience was  before  he  had  heard  anything  of  Chris- 
tianity. He  had  some  perception  of  right  and  wrong, 
some  sense  of  sin,  failure,  and  insufficiency.  He  had 
an  unrealized  ideal  of  personal  character  and  conduct, 
and  would  think  of  it  as  embodied  in  the  great  teacher, 
Confucius.  He  had  a  longing  for  Divine  power  in 
his  efforts  after  a  better  life,  which  prompted  him  some- 
times to  continue  in  attendance  for  several  days  at  a 
Buddhist  temple,  and  it  seemed  to  him  not  wholly  in 
vain.  Such,  as  nearly  as  I  can  reproduce  it  in  few 
words,  was  his  story.  "  When  you  heard  the  gospel," 
I  asked,  "  did  it  seem  like  something  which  you  had 
nothing  to  do  with,  something  foreign  to  your  need 
and  experiences,  to  which  therefore  you  could  make 
no  response  ?  "  His  prompt  and  eager  reply  was,  "  Ko, 
no  " — it  approved  itself  as  the  fulfilment  of  those  needs 


VISION  OF  MAN  165 

and  experiences.  That  was  his  word,  "  the  fulfilment." 
From  Buddha  and  Confucius  to  Jesus  Christ — here  was 
indeed  both  redemption  and  fulfilment.  Christianity  to 
him  was  an  answer  to  spiritual  longing,  a  homeland 
of  the  spirit. 

So  was  it  long  ago  in  Israel  with  those  who  were 
of  the  truth.  When  the  Christ,  the  faithful  and  true 
Witness,  came  among  them  setting  forth  the  kingdom 
of  God,  they  heard  his  voice  and  found  the  fulfilment 
of  their  law  in  him.  In  like  manner,  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria and  other  Greek  fathers  spoke  of  philosophy  as 
a  prtparation  for  the  gospel — "  being,  as  it  is,  a 
stepping-stone  to  the  philosophy  which  is  according  to 
Christ."  *  So  is  it  to-day  in  every  nation,  when  unto 
those  who  will  to  fear  God  and  work  righteousness  is 
set  forth  that  same  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteous- 
ness. "  What  therefore  ye  worship  in  ignorance,"  said 
the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  "  this  I  set  forth  unto  you." 
And  the  result,  even  in  x\thens  ?  "  Certain  men  clave 
unto  him  and  believed ;  among  whom  also  was  Dionysius 
the  Areopagite  and  a  woman  named  Damaris  and  others 
with  them." 

Here,  therefore,  is  to  be  found  the  way  toward  the 
deepest  spiritual  knowledge  of  one's  self — and  thus  of 
man.  It  is  through  sharing  in  the  mind  of  Jesus.  No 
other  man  ever  saw  the  evil  and  the  condemning  power 
of  sin  as  He  who  did  no  sin.  It  stood  revealed  in  his 
presence,  "  for  he  knew  what  was  in  man."  No  other 
soul  ever  felt  the  pain  and  sting  of  it  as  did  the  sin- 
less soul  of  the  Redeemer.     He  forewarned  them  that 

*  Strom.  VI,  8. 


166  VISION  AND  POWER 

heard  him  that  it  cannot  be  forgiven  except  on  condi- 
tion of  a  forgiving  spirit  toward  an  offending  fellow- 
man;  and  that,  although  it  be  held  as  dear  as  a  right 
eye  or  a  right  hand,  it  must  be  utterly  cast  out  on  pain 
of  perdition.  So  he  appears  among  men,  the  Searcher 
and  the  Revealer  of  the  heart.  "  For  from  within,  out 
of  the  heart  of  men  [out  of  the  man  himself Ji  evil 
thoughts  proceed,  fornications,  thefts,  murders,  adulter- 
ies, covetings,  wickedness,  deceit,  lasciviousness,  an  evil 
eye,  railing,  pride,  foolishness;  all  these  evil  things 
proceed  from  within,  and  defile  the  man  " — what  a 
vision  to  him  who  was  of  too  pure  eyes  to  bear  the 
sight  of  sin,  and  yet  must  bear  it  in  holy  sacrificial 
love. 

Jesus  read  the  record  of  the  heart.  More  than  that, 
he  saw  the  potential  in  the  actual.  He  discerned  the 
man  that  might  be,  that  was  divinely  intended  to  be, 
in  the  man  that  was.  He  saw  the  man  within  the  man 
whom  the  demons  of  falsehood,  lust,  and  cruelty  were 
striving  to  make  their  own. 

VI 

Such  was  the  vision  of  the  Lord  of  love,  which  it  is 
his  good  pleasure  to  share  with  all  them  who,  however 
their  minds  have  hitherto  been  darkened,  are  now  will- 
ing to  see. 

It  is  shared  and  shown,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  by  many 
a  wise  and  loving  soul  in  the  present-day  world.  It 
was  shown  by  David  Livingstone  in  the  heart  of  Africa. 
Gladly  did  the  great  explorer  lay  down  his  life  for 
the  Christianization  of  the  primitive  black  folk  in  whom 


VISION  OF  MAN  167 

he  saw  the  possibility  of  becoming  God's  own  children 
walking  obediently  in  the  light  of  Christ.  It  is  shown 
by  men  and  women  of  like  missionary  spirit  in  our 
own  American  communities.  In  them  the  mind  of  the 
Master  is  still  among  us,  discerning  the  filial  possi- 
bilities of  the  soul  toward  the  God  of  its  life. 

An  evening  or  two  ago  I  chanced  to  learn  that  Mrs. 
Maud  Ballington  Booth  had  come  to  town  in  the  inter- 
est of  her  lifework  as  the  "  little  mother  "  of  prison- 
ers. In  an  address  in  one  of  the  churches  of  the  city, 
she  told  that  for  fifteen  years  she  had  ministered  within 
prison  walls,  and  went  on  to  say: 

"A  wonderful  revelation  has  come  to  me  in  my  work.  When 
I  went  into  it  I  believed  two  great  truths — first  in  the  redeem- 
ability  of  human  nature — that  there  is  some  chord  in  every 
heart  that  will  respond  to  the  music  of  heaven.  .  .  .  And  then, 
friends,  I  believed  in  power  divine — the  power  that  could  go  to 
the  very  abyss  of  hell  and  draw  men  up  to  the  very  threshold  of 
heaven,  a  power  that  could  change  the  darkness  of  the  night  into 
the  glory  of  the  day.  And  these  things  I  have  come  to  know 
more  firmly  during  the  fifteen  years  I  have  laboured  within  the 
walls.   .    .    . 

"  To  me  the  audiences  I  address  Sunday  after  Sunday  are  not 
just  crowds  of  convicts,  murderers,  thieves,  burglars,  but  they 
are  just  a  crowd  of  human  hearts.  ...  I  believe  it  is  our  right 
in  the  name  of  Christ  to  shut  the  door  to  the  past.  We  should 
not  ask  what  this  man  has  been,  what  he  has  done,  but  rather 
what  can  he  be  and  what  can  he  do." 

The  Salvationist's  word,  though  received  sympa- 
thetically, attracted  no  wide  attention  in  the  city.  Why 
should  it  have  done  so?  It  dealt  with  nothing  strange 
or  unheard-of.  It  was  only  the  story  of  a  miracle — 
a  miracle  of  grace.  It  was  only  a  noble-minded  woman 
telling  of  what  possibilities  of  sinful  souls  she  had  come 
to  see,  with  increasing  conviction,  as  a  pupil  and  fol- 
lower of  Jesus  Christ. 


168  VISION  AND  POWER 


vn 

The  question,  then,  may  bear  repetition,  What  is 
man?  The  materialist  would  say,  as  a  recent  philo- 
sophic writer  has  phrased  it :  "  He  is  merely  the  high- 
est of  animals,  having  essentially  the  same  history  and 
destiny  as  they — birth,  hunger,  labour,  weariness,  death 
.  .  .  simply  an  incident  in  the  condensation  of  dis- 
persed matter,  or  the  cooling  of  a  fiery  gas." 

The  Buddhist  would  say:  A  migrating  soul,  now  in 
a  human  and  now  in  an  animal  body,  the  victim  of 
desires  to  be  extirpated  rather  than  gratified  or  con- 
trolled, his  individual  existence  an  evil,  no  God  in 
heaven  or  earth  to  help  him  in  his  struggle  for  self- 
sanctification,  the  final  goal  of  his  endeavour  the  sinking 
of  personal  being  in  Nirvana — the  uneasy  self  annihi- 
lated as  a  candle-flame  snuffed  out. 

A  new  type  of  teachers  and  leaders  has  recently 
arisen  who  would  say:  Man  is  a  fighting  animal.  He 
is  to  gain  his  ends  by  skilful  and  unrelenting  force. 
His  prototype  is  the  beast  of  prey.  Selfishness  is  his 
supreme  motive.  Sympathy  is  weakness,  humility  ab- 
jectness.  To  practise  self-sacrifice  is  to  renounce  one's 
life — loss  only.  "  Self-assertion  at  all  costs."  "  Let  the 
weak  find  their  place — at  the  bottom."  And  it  is  this 
human  animal's  wisdom  to  hunt  in  packs  like  the  wolf. 
War  is  normal  and  necessary.  Peace  means  decadence. 
The  clan  or  the  nation  is  to  move  out,  whenever  its 
interests  seem  to  demand  it,  upon  other  peoples,  and 
bring  them  into  subjection — to  crush  them  utterly,  if 


VISION  OF  MAN  169 

they  continue  to  resist.  For  them  to  plead  their  rights 
would  be  for  the  fawn  to  plead  its  rights  under  the  paw 
of  the  tiger.  They  have  no  rights  before  the  stronger 
power.  "  Right  is  respected  so  far  only  as  it  is  com- 
patible with  advantage !  Might  is  right."  Man,  either 
as  an  individual  or  as  a  community,  is  the  highest  form 
of  the  fighting  animal. 

The  agnostic's  answer  would  be  conspicuously  brief: 
A  conflux  of  appearances  of  whose  origin,  destiny,  or 
inner  nature  I  have  no  knowledge. 

The  Christian,  on  the  contrary,  confessing  his  faith, 
declares  that  man  is  a  child  of  the  Eternal  Reason, 
Love,  and  Will,  a  son  of  God.  In  his  nature  there  is 
a  capacity  for  the  assimilation  of  spiritual  truth. 
Touched,  quickened,  called  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  he 
may  answer,  if  he  will,  "  Here  am  I."  His  lifeword 
is  not  quiescence,  nor  is  it  self-assertion,  but  fulfilment. 
Sin,  it  is  awfully  true,  paralyzes  his  spiritual  powers. 
But  it  is  not  for  us  to  say  concerning  any  brother  man, 
"  He  is  irretrievably  lost  to  all  that  is  good."  Rather 
let  us  endeavour  to  touch  "  the  chord  in  every  heart," 
free  or  behind  prison  bars,  "that  will  respond  to  the 
music  of  heaven."  And  the  redeemed  man  may  ever 
go  on  unto  purity,  personality,  and  power. 

Ancient  Jerusalem  was  an  unholy  city.  "  Ah,  sin- 
ful nation,"  said  her  great  resident  prophet  in  the  vision 
which  he  saw  concerning  Judah  and  Jerusalem,  "  a 
people  laden  with  iniquity,  a  seed  of  evildoers,  children 
that  deal  corruptly,  they  have  forsaken  Jehovah,  they 
have  despised  the  Holy  One  of  Israel."  But  Isaiah 
had  also  seen  a  vision  of  the  Thrice  Holy  as  the  sender 


170  VISION  AND  POWER 

of  willing  messengers  to  the  sin-laden  people,  and  had 
answered,  "Send  me."  A  messenger  of  judgment? 
Verily,  of  judgment  to  those  who  persistently  refused 
to  obey :  "  I  will  not  hear ;  your  hands  are  full  of  blood ; 
wash  you,  make  you  clean."  But  a  messenger  of  for- 
giveness and  cleansing  to  those  who  would  forsake  their 
evil  ways :  "  Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together, 
saith  Jehovah:  though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they 
shall  be  white  as  snow." 

In  the  same  city,  some  hundreds  of  years  after  Isaiah 
had  finished  his  work  and  entered  into  rest,  the  Church 
of  Israel's  teachers  and  leaders,  with  a  shouting  mob 
of  their  followers,  crucified  the  Prophet  of  prophets, 
its  own  divinely  sent  Christ.  Yet  it  was  this  very 
city  that,  according  to  the  instructions  of  this  same 
Prophet  and  Christ,  should  first  hear  the  message  that 
"  repentance  and  remission  of  sins  should  be  preached  in 
his  name  unto  all  the  nations."  "Beginning  from 
Jerusalem." 

Thus,  then,  in  its  two  most  signal  instances — that 
of  Isaiah  and  that  of  the  Apostles — under  the  Old  Cove- 
nant and  the  ISTew,  appears  the  home  missionary  work 
of  the  Church  of  God. 

But  the  rest  of  the  evangelistic  field,  in  the  bidding 
of  the  Eisen  Christ,  was  "  unto  the  uttermost  part 
of  the  earth."  Truly  the  largest  possible  field.  But 
let  the  Christian,  if  he  dare,  imagine  it  smaller.  Where 
shall  any  line  of  delimitation  be  drawn  ? 

Might  such  a  line  exclude,  for  example,  the  white 
race,  or  at  least  the  English-speaking  people?  If  not, 
why  any  other  people? 


VISION  OF  MAN  171 


vni 


Civilization  is  ever  tending  toward  universalism. 
Even  without  a  distinct  purpose  or  a  common  pro- 
gramme, the  stronger  peoples  are  steadily  communi- 
cating their  ideas  and  institutions  to  all  others.  And 
herein  are  they  unconsciously  working  together  with 
God.  In  all  diffusion  of  knowledge  and  truth,  in 
every  beneficent  movement  (whether  it  be  benevolent 
or  not),  they  are  contributing,  wittingly  or  unwittingly, 
to  an  unceasing  Divine  purpose.  Indeed,  shall  not 
each  people  come,  from  the  East,  from  the  West,  with 
its  own  contribution  thereto?  The  foretokened  end  is 
the  universal  cooperation  and  enrichment  of  the  race — 
the  commonwealth  of  the  world.  For  which  consum- 
mation it  is  both  Scriptural  and  scientific  to  hope. 

There  is,  for  example,  the  promise  and  foretokening 
of  industrial  oneness.  Discoveries,  inventions,  business 
enterprises,  multiplied  improvements  in  the  production 
of  all  that  the  three  prime  necessaries  of  food,  cloth- 
ing, and  shelter  represent,  are  occupying  the  world; 
and  the  best  shall  have  dominion.  So  with  civil  gov- 
ernment. Because  as  moral  personality  develops,  des- 
potism and  lawlessness  become  intolerable;  and  here, 
too,  the  best  ideas  and  forms  of  government  shall  have 
dominion.  So  notably  with  knowledge.  Whoso  would 
bind  it  with  chains,  or  restrict  it  to  private  or  pro- 
fessional or  provincial  boundaries,  is  spending  his  la- 
bour for  nought.  As  well  might  he  bid  the  sunlight 
beware  how  it  persists  in  completing  its  circuit  of  the 


172  VISION  AND  POWER 

earth.  The  knowledge  of  one  people  shall  be  the  knowl- 
edge of  all  peoples;  the  truth  shall  prevail,  the  best 
shall  have  dominion.  Must  there  be  a  colossal  excep- 
tion, then,  in  that  which  looks  toward  the  best  of  all  in 
the  life  of  man — toward  religious  faith  and  practice? 
Shall  industry  and  government  and  knowledge,  with 
unmistakable  step,  be  making  for  the  oneness  of  the 
race,  and  religion,  the  one  greatest  thing  in  life,  have 
no  prevision  of  such  a  goal  ?  Have  the  kingdoms  of 
industry,  of  government,  of  knowledge  inherited  a  law 
of  progress  toward  universal  prevalence,  while  the  king- 
dom of  righteousness  knows  no  such  promise  of  a 
triumphant  future  ?  On  the  contrary,  this  kingdom  of 
God  is  also  ever  coming;  and  His  will  shall  be  done. 

It  is  one  of  the  dicta  of  present-day  science  that 
"  everywhere  nature  is  throbbing  with  suppressed 
magnificence."  If  so  splendid  a  figure  be  simple  truth 
with  respect  to  the  material  creation,  in  what  terms 
may  we  speak  of  the  interpreting  and  purposeful  soul  ? 
Who  shall  foretell  its  growth  and  greatness  or  show 
the  glory  of  its  Divine  redemption  ?  "  For  the  earnest 
expectation  of  the  creation  waiteth  for  the  revealing 
of  the  sons  of  God." 

Man  as  Intelligence,  lower  orders  of  life  and  of 
the  unliving  yielding  themselves  more  and  more  to  his 
service,  has  gained  possession  of  the  earth.  Man  as 
Moral  Will  is  doing  the  same.  It  is,  therefore,  no 
strange  or  abnormal  word,  unillumined  by  the  light 
of  God  in  human  history,  that  the  Master  has  put  upon 
his  disciples'  lips,  in  bidding  them  pray,  "  Thy  king- 
dom come." 


VISION  OF  MAN  173 

Moreover,  it  is  a  prophetic  word  of  which  the  Lord 
Christ  himself  is  the  great  assurance — the  same  as  the 
prophets  which  were  before  him  spoke,  according  to 
the  wisdom  given  in  vision  unto  them.  On  the  point 
of  his  departure  "to  receive  for  himself  a  kingdom 
and  to  return,"  when  the  Eleven  asked  him  about  it, 
did  he  not  declare  to  them  that  they  in  the  power  of 
the  Spirit  should  be  his  witnessing  messengers  unto 
all  the  world  ?  It  was  in  accordance  with  that  ancient 
word  of  Jehovah :  "I  will  give  thee  .  .  .  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  possession." 

Will  give  them  to  whom?  To  Jehovah's  Son  and 
Representative.  To  the  Sovereign  of  the  soul.  To  him 
who  came  to  fulfil  the  law  and  the  prophets  of  the 
ancient  Church  of  God.  To  him  who  is  the  fulfiller  of 
the  prophetic  voices  in  the  deeps  of  the  human  heart — 
even  of  that  word  which  is  "not  in  heaven,"  nor  "be- 
yond the  sea,"  but  "  very  nigh  unto  thee,  in  thy  mouth 
and  in  thy  heart  that  thou  mayest  do  it."  To  him  of 
whom  it  is  written :  "  He  will  not  fail  nor  be  dis- 
couraged till  he  have  set  justice  in  the  earth." 

Turn  we,  then,  to  the  vision  of  Jesus. 


vni 

VISIOIT  OF  JESUS 


And  I  heard  also  a  Voice  saying  unto  me  .  .  . — Acts 
11:7. 

Who  went  about  doing  good  and  healing  all  that 
were  oppressed  of  the  devil;  for  God  was  with  him. 
And  we  are  witnesses  of  all  things  which  he  did  both 
in  the  country  of  the  Jews  and  in  Jerusalem;  whom 
also  they  slew,  hanging  him  on  a  tree.  Him  God 
raised  up  the  third  day,  and  gave  him  to  be  made  mani- 
fest, not  to  all  the  people  but  unto  witnesses  that  were 
chosen  before  of  God,  even  to  us  who  ate  and  drank  with 
him  after  he  rose  from  the  dead. — Acts  10:  38-41. 


IN  the  truest  sense,  that  which  appeared  to  Simon 
Peter  in  the  ecstasy  that  came  upon  him  was  a  vision 
of  Jesus.  It  was  an  expression  of  Jesus'  mind. 
It  was  vocal  with  his  truth  and  purpose.  The  voice 
which  forhade  the  making  of  that  common  which  God 
has  cleansed  was  the  voice  of  him  who  had  declared 
in  the  days  of  his  flesh  that  the  food  which  a  man 
eats  cannot  defile  him — "  making  all  meats  clean."  * 

And  the  incomparable  vision  of  spiritual  truth,  even 
of  the  very  God  of  truth,  was  given  in  the  life  of 
Jesus.  It  is  that  in  which  all  others  find  their  fulfil- 
ment and  interpretation.  The  Apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles called  it  by  an  appropriate  name,  as  he  told  of 
that  memorable  noonday  when  the  arresting  light  of 
it  flashed  upon  him  from  on  high :  "  Wherefore,  O  King 

•  Mark  7 :  18,  19. 

174 


VISION  OF  JESUS  176 

Agrippa,  I  was  not  disobedient  unto  the  heavenly  vi- 
sion"— unto  the  voice  which  spoke  out  of  the  glory 
of  that  light  and  said :  "  I  am  Jesus,  whom  thou  perse- 
cutest."  But  with  still  larger  measure  of  meaning  may 
we  call  the  life  of  Jesus,  as  lived  visibly  and  most 
humanly  among  men,  the  heavenly  vision  for  the  Chris- 
tian ages.  Jesus  in  his  own  Person  is  the  supreme 
Divine  revelation.  "  Neither  doth  any  know  the  Fa- 
ther save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  willeth 
to  reveal  him." 

Not  a  private  or  special  revealing — an  apocalypse  like 
that  to  the  conscientious  yet  "  exceeding  mad  "  young 
Pharisee  outside  the  gates  of  Damascus  or  that  to  the 
Christian  seer  on  Patmos — Jesus'  revealing  of  the  Fa- 
ther is  a  purely  spiritual  gift,  the  same  for  all.  It 
is  suited  to  enter  into  the  Sunday-school  lesson  of  the 
four-year-old  child,  and  it  has  infinite  significance  for 
the  maturest  spiritual  mind. 


Now,  such  was  the  vision  which  Simon  Peter  and  his 
fellow-disciples  saw  with  their  bodily  eyes.  And  as  an 
eye-witness  he  told  of  it,  as  well  as  of  the  trance  scene 
in  Joppa,  to  Cornelius — this  vision  of  "  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, how  God  anointed  him  with  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
with  power;  who  went  about  doing  good,  and  healing 
all  that  were  oppressed  of  the  devil;  for  God  was 
with  him." 

It  was  a  sight,  as  the  Master  himself  reminded  his 
disciples,  such  as  the  highest  men  in  Israel,  prophets, 
kings,  righteous  men,  had  indeed  desired,  but  never 


176  VISION  AND  POWER 

seen.  Blessed  above  all  men  who  had  gone  before  were 
these  twelve  men  who  abode  with  Jesus.  Not,  however, 
let  us  remember,  because  of  the  outward  vision  in  itself, 
but  because  of  what  it  meant,  being  interpreted. 

All  the  while,  even  unto  the  end,  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
was  to  most  of  those  who  saw  him  the  unrecognized 
Christ.  "  The  gravest  charge,"  it  has  been  said,  "  which 
can  be  laid  at  the  door  of  the  learned  Pharisees  of  that 
day  is  that  the  most  significant  events  in  the  history 
of  the  world  were  taking  place  before  their  eyes  and 
they  did  not  see  it."  In  Jesus'  Galilean  ministry 
"  even  his  own  brethren  did  not  believe  on  him."  They 
were  probably  chief  among  the  "  friends  "  who  came  at 
one  time  to  protect  him  against  what  they  regarded  as 
hurtful  zeal  in  teaching  and  healing.  Apparently  they 
would  have  had  him  come  home  and  abide  there  again 
at  work  with  the  carpenter's  hammer  and  saw.  So  they 
came  to  lay  hold  upon  him  and  bring  him  back  to  him- 
self ;  "  for  they  said.  He  is  beside  himself."  *  On 
Calvary  the  soldiers  who  had  nailed  him  to  the  cross 
could  sit  down  and  cast  lots  for  the  seamless  tunic  he 
had  worn.  "  In  the  midst  of  you  standeth  One  whom 
ye  know  not." 

The  Twelve,  even  the  most  receptive  and  enlightened 
spirits  of  them  all,  had  but  little  vision  of  Jesus  till 
the  Spirit  of  truth  interpreted  to  them  his  daily  words 
and  deeds,  his  person,  his  cross  and  resurrection.  What 
is  said  of  one  particular  occasion  in  his  life  might  doubt- 
less be  said  of  many  others — namely,  that  "  these  things 
understood  not  his  disciples  at  the  first,"  but  afterward, 

*  Mark  3 :  21,  22. 


VISION  OF  JESUS  177 

"  when  Jesus  was  glorified,"  then  they  had  better  knowl- 
edge of  them. 

At  one  period  of  their  lives,  certainly,  they  supposed 
themselves  to  be  believing  on  him  with  a  truer  knowl- 
edge and  faith  than  they  really  had.  When,  for  exam- 
ple, he  asked  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee,  "  Are  ye  able 
to  drink  the  cup  that  I  drink?  or  to  be  baptized  with 
the  baptism  that  I  am  baptized  with  ?  "  they  answered, 
apparently  without  the  least  hesitation,  "  We  are  able." 
Alas  for  their  knowledge  at  that  time  of  the  "  cup  "  and 
the  "  baptism  "  that  were  awaiting  the  Redeemer  of  the 
world.  On  their  last  evening  with  him,  indeed,  the 
disciples  seemed  to  feel  that  now  at  the  end  of  the 
days  they  did  understand  him  and  believe  in  him  very 
truly:  "  Lo,  now,"  they  said,  "  speakest  thou  plainly. 
.  .  .  Now  we  know  that  thou  knowest  all  things.  .  .  . 
By  this  we  believe  that  thou  earnest  forth  from  God." 
But  Jesus  answering  said  to  them :  "  Do  ye  now  believe  ? 
Behold,  the  hour  cometh,  yea,  is  come  that  ye  shall  be 
scattered,  every  man  to  his  own,  and  shall  leave  me 
alone."  What  could  have  been  their  knowledge  of 
Jesus,  when  in  time  of  peril  they  were  ready  to  turn 
their  backs  upon  him  ? 

We  remember  the  smallness  of  Peter's  Christian 
knowledge  as  so  painfully  shown  soon  after  the  Great 
Confession.  "  Be  it  far  from  thee.  Lord :  this  shall 
never  be  unto  thee."  What  should  never  be  unto  their 
Lord?  The  cross,  the  culminating  act  of  redemptive 
grace,  the  sacrifice  of  atonement.  Peter  knew  not  then 
the  mystery  of  suffering  sacrificial  love. 

But  he  rightly  saw  it  ere  long.     Because,  loyal  at 


178  VISION  AND  POWER 

heart  and  a  learner,  he  kept,  though  not  without  occa- 
sional stumbling,  the  path  of  discipleship,  which  is 
the  way  of  preparation  for  more  perfect  knowledge  and 
larger  service.  Accordingly  we  shall  hear  him  pro- 
claiming to  his  fellow-Hebrews  in  Jerusalem  the  saviour- 
hood  of  the  crucified  Jesus;  and  here  in  the  house  of 
Cornelius  he  declares :  "  To  him  bear  all  the  prophets 
witness,  that  through  his  name  every  one  that  be- 
lieveth  on  him  shall  receive  remission  of  sins."  Still 
later  he  will  write  it  down  in  his  Eirst  Epistle  General : 
"  Who  his  own  self  bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body  upon 
the  tree,  that  we,  having  died  unto  sins,  might  live 
unto  righteousness."  For  Peter  to  know  Christ  now 
was  to  know  the  power  of  that  resurrection  and  the 
fellowship  of  those  sufferings  in  which  he  had  once  so 
impetuously  refused  to  believe. 

In  the  light  of  so  transforming  a  vision,  it  must  have 
seemed  a  strange  and  unreal  day  when  he  could  have 
taken  his  Lord  aside  and  rebuked  him  with  the  protesta- 
tion, "  This  shall  not  be  unto  thee."  Spiritually  that 
was  already  a  far-off  time. 

n 

These  disciples  and  friends  of  Jesus,  then,  whom  he 
had  called  to  be  continually  with  him,  had  heard  and 
seen  what  it  behoved  all  the  world  to  know ;  and  it  was 
through  them  that  the  world  was  to  learn  these  same 
great  facts.  Such  was  the  mind  of  the  Master;  and 
hence  the  name  witnesses  by  which  he  called  them.  "  Ye 
shall  be  my  witnesses  .  .  .  unto  the  uttermost  part  of 
the  earth."     Accordingly  we  find  Peter  declaring  in 


VISION  OF  JESUS  179 

the  house  of  Cornelius,  "  And  we  are  witnesses  of  all 
things  which  He  did  both  in  the  country  of  the  Jews 
and  in  Jerusalem  " — as  indeed  he  had  already  declared 
to  Jewish  people  of  all  lands  on  the  day  of  Pentecost : 
"  This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up,  whereof  we  all  are 
witnesses."  And  on  into  old  age  the  last  surviving 
disciple  is  writing:  "  That  which  we  have  heard,  which 
we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  that  which  we  beheld,  and 
our  hands  handled,  concerning  the  Word  of  Life  .  .  . 
and  the  life  was  manifested,  and  we  have  seen,  and 
bear  witness,  and  declare  unto  you  the  life,  the  eternal 
life,  which  was  with  the  Father,  and  was  manifested 
unto  us." 

So  they  kept  telling  and  interpreting  their  vision 
of  Jesus.  Moreover,  many  received  their  testimony 
and  passed  it  on  to  others ;  and  by  such  means  the  life- 
bearing  evangel  made  its  way  among  the  people  of 
that  generation  and  the  generation  following. 

Now  this  word  of  Jesus'  witnesses  has  found  written 
form  and  is  read  far  and  wide  in  the  world  to-day. 
What  language  or  dialect  is  without  it?  The  Gospels 
are  ours,  and  in  them  we  too  may  see  Jesus — following 
and  learning,  step  by  step,  if  we  will,  in  the  very  light 
of  life.  The  experience  of  the  first-called  disciples  which 
set  them  apart  in  blessedness  from  even  prophets  who 
desired  in  vain  to  see  the  day  of  the  Christ  did  not 
set  them  apart  in  the  same  way  from  us  who  should 
come  after  them.  For  through  them  the  heavenly  vision 
has  been  mediated  across  the  intervening  centuries  even 
to  our  own  time. 

Suppose  it  had  been  given  us  to  see  for  ourselves 


180  VISION  AND  POWER 

the  eye-witnesses — Peter,  John,  Thomas,  Matthew,  and 
the  rest — and  listen  to  the  personal  testimony  from  their 
lips.  Had  some  of  us  fallen  in,  for  example,  with  the 
little  company  of  brethren  from  Joppa  who  went  with 
Peter  on  his  two  days'  journey  to  Csesarea,  we  might 
have  heard  many  things  about  the  Master  that  would 
have  filled  our  hearts  with  wonder  and  gladness.  Or, 
had  we  talked,  as  Polycarp,  the  pastor  of  the  church 
in  Smyrna,  did,  with  John,  the  venerable  and  beloved, 
we  should  doubtless  have  had  many  an  eager  question 
to  ask.  Or  even  had  we  known  Papias,  that  "  ancient 
man "  who  made  it  a  point,  whenever  he  met  with 
any  one  who  had  been  a  follower  of  the  first  disciples 
of  the  Lord,  "  to  enquire  what  were  the  declarations  of 
the  elders,"  we  should  have  received  with  a  glad  and 
grateful  heart  whatever  he  might  have  to  relate.  But 
have  not  Peter  and  John  and  the  rest  told  us  enough, 
and  is  not  the  word  of  their  testimony  in  all  our 
churches  and  homes? 

There  are  those,  it  is  true,  who  find  occasion  of  stum- 
bling in  these  Gospels.  Jesus  himself  was  to  many  in 
his  own  day  a  stone  of  stumbling.  They  could  not  ac- 
cept his  appearance  and  manner  of  life  as  befitting  one 
for  whom  was  made  the  unexampled  claim  of  sinless 
sonship  to  God.  They  were  unable  to  see  the  Divine 
in  the  natural  and  familiar.  They  could  not  harmonize 
the  simple  greatness  of  Jesus  of  ISTazareth  with  their 
poor  grandiose  ideas  of  what  Messiah  should  be.  They 
were  looking  upward,  perhaps,  for  some  blazing  por- 
tent out  of  the  heavens.  As  if  to  be  dazzled  were  to 
be  instructed! 


VISION  OF  JESUS  181 

There  was  no  halo  about  the  Master's  head  such  as 
painters  have  been  pleased  to  depict.  One  with  men  in 
the  common  things  of  life,  by  no  preternatural  sign 
was  he  distinguished  from  them.  "  The  Son  of  Man 
came  eating  and  drinking."  When  they  coarsely  de- 
rided him,  no  flash  of  Heaven's  indignation  struck  them 
blind  or  dumb.  Could  this  be  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
the  Eternal  ?  They  would  not  believe  it.  "  Whom  mak- 
est  thou  thyself  ?  "  angrily  they  asked,  and  took  up  stones 
to  stone  him  withal.  They  would  put  to  death  the 
Divine  Man  moving  so  humanly  among  them. 

Moreover,  the  word  of  such  a  teacher  made  great 
demands  upon  life.  It  searched  even  unto  the  secret 
springs  of  action.  When  he  spoke,  it  was  men's  con- 
sciences that  woke  to  condemn  them  and  their  inner- 
most spirits  that  heard  the  call  to  a  life  of  self-denying 
love.  "  And  upon  this  many  of  his  disciples  went  back 
and  walked  no  more  with  him."  Over  the  very  Stone 
which  God  had  elected  for  them  to  build  their  lives 
upon  they  are  stumbling  and  falling. 

Somewhat  in  like  manner,  then,  may  men  fail  to  see 
the  true  glory  of  Jesus  in  the  written  Gospels.  They 
would  fain  ask  that  the  story  of  his  life  should  be 
set  apart  in  its  mode  of  composition  and  its  literary 
form  from  all  other  writings.  The  Spirit  of  inspiration, 
they  think,  should  secure  an  ideal  historic  and  con- 
structive perfection. 

But  we  do  not  find  it  so.  Not  until  twenty-five  years 
or  more  after  the  death  of  Jesus  do  these  writings  ap- 
pear. They  embody  the  evangelic  tradition,  oral  and 
apostolic.    They  are  memoirs  rather  than  biographies — 


182  VISION  AND  POWER 

"  memoirs  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles,"  Justin  Martyr 
calls  them.  The  order  of  events  is  not  in  every  case 
the  same  in  them  all.  Their  reports  of  the  words  and 
acts  of  Jesus  are  more  or  less  variant.  They  reach  our 
hands  to-day  through  transcriptions  and  translations. 
But  all  this  only  means  that  it  is  by  the  way  of  the 
human  that  the  Gospels  convey  the  divine.  The  form 
in  which  they  come  before  us,  with  its  unmistakable 
marks  of  simplicity  and  sincerity,  is  the  work  of  men's 
minds  and  hands,  yet  by  the  Spirit,  under  the  provi- 
dence, and  in  the  purpose  of  God;  while  the  recorded 
facts  stand  alone  in  their  significance  on  the  page  of 
human  history. 

Ill 

Does  any  Christian  fear  lest  the  progress  of  his- 
torical criticism  may  rob  the  Church  of  her  Christ? 
Let  him  give  such  fears  to  the  wind.  They  are  vain 
for  sundry  reasons,  and  even  were  there  no  other,  for 
the  reason  that  there  is  no  way  of  accounting  for  the 
personality  of  Jesus  except  on  the  ground  of  its  his- 
toricity. "  In  the  end  of  the  day,"  says  Dr.  Johnston- 
Ross,  "  the  unity  of  the  Central  Figure  in  these  stories 
will  point  to  the  unity  of  the  One  Mind  that  inspired 
them,  and  the  conception  of  the  Universal  Divine  Man 
which  they  enshrine  will  bear  to  candid  eyes  the  seal 
of  its  own  Divine  origin."  Who  could  have  imagined 
Him?  Not  the  Evangelists,  not  the  Apostles,  none  of 
his  contemporaries,  no  mythographer,  no  painter  or 
poet  or  thinker  of  humankind.  To  depict  the  tran- 
scendent character  of  Jesus,  as  it  comes  out  in  clear, 


VISION  OF  JESUS  183 

artless,  self-consistent  portraiture  from  the  four  writers 
of  the  New  Testament  Gospels,  is  far  beyond  the  power 
of  either  the  single  or  the  collective  imagination.  Such 
a  character,  such  a  person,  must  be  historic,  and  if 
historic,  Divine. 

IV 

This,  then,  is  a  most  fitting  answer  of  the  Christian 
Church  to  any  seeker  of  Him  whose  name  she  bears — 
or,  what  means  the  same  thing,  to  any  seeker  of  spir- 
itual truth.  Let  her  put  into  his  hands  the  Scrip- 
tures of  the  New  Testament — the  fourfold  Memoir  of 
Jesus  and  its  apostolic  interpretation.  There  was  a 
time  when  the  entire  property  of  a  Christian  congre- 
gation consisted  of  little  or  nothing  more  than  the  four 
Gospels.  A  priceless  treasure  then,  they  have  never 
been  less  precious — thanks  be  to  God  for  their  cus- 
todians and  transmitters — than  in  those  early  years  of 
Christianity;  and  everybody  may  have  them  now  as  a 
personal  possession. 

What  James  said  to  the  council  in  Jerusalem  con- 
cerning the  Mosaic  law  may  be  much  more  fully  said 
of  the  Gospels.  From  generations  of  old  in  every  city, 
James  reminded  his  brethren,  the  law  had  been  "  read 
in  the  synagogues  every  Sabbath."  The  Gospels  also 
have  been  read.  Sabbath  by  Sabbath,  from  generations 
of  old  in  our  Christian  "  synagogues."  But  they  are 
in  our  homes  as  well,  in  our  hands  every  day,  if  we  will 
have  it  so;  and  that  which  they  offer  is  the  vision  of 
God  in  Jesus — the  Heavenly  Father  speaking  to  us  in 
Him  who  was  "  the  very  image  of  his  substance."    Did 


184.  VISION  AND  POWER 

not  Jesus  himself  declare  to  the  people,  "  He  that  be- 
holdeth  me  beholdeth  Him  that  sent  me  "  ?  Did  he  not 
say  to  the  disciples,  on  the  evening  before  his  death, 
"  If  ye  had  known  me,  ye  would  have  known  my  Fa- 
ther also  "  ? 

So  that  Peter  might  well  write  to  the  Christian  be- 
lievers of  the  Dispersion  concerning  Christ  as  mani- 
fested at  the  end  of  the  times  for  their  sakes :  "  Who 
through  him  are  believers  in  God."  Through  Christ  to 
God — such  is  the  way  of  that  knowledge  in  which  is 
eternal  life. 

This  knowledge,  then,  may  come  from  the  written 
word  of  the  gospel,  if  so  be  that  the  word  is  truly  read. 
But  it  has  been  the  plaint  of  many  a  sincere  seeker  of 
truth,  with  whom,  while  the  spirit  is  willing,  the  flesh 
is  weak, 

"  I  read  the  Bible  with  my  eyes 
But  hardly  with  my  brain; 
Should  this  the  meaning  recognize, 
My  heart  yet  reads  in  vain." 

Surely  if  it  is  ever  due  that  we  should  read  not  with 
eyes  only,  nor  with  brain  only,  but  with  an  uplifted 
heart  and  a  consecrated  will,  we  owe  it  to  Holy  Scrip- 
ture— the  Gospels  and  all  the  rest — to  read  it  thus.  Let 
us  give  heed  to  Jesus'  own  question,  "  How  readest 
thou  ?  "  Is  it  in  this  spirit  ?  Then  indeed  may  we 
hope  to  see  Jesus  in  spiritual  vision  that  will  make 
his  Father  and  our  Father,  his  God  and  our  God,  the 
most  vital  and  formative  experience  of  our  lives. 

Thus  also  may  we  have  some  word  of  interpretation 
for  listening  souls  in  the  congregation. 


VISION  OF  JESUS  185 


"  Who  through  Him  are  believers  in  God."  What 
are  some  of  the  truths  to  be  seen  in  this  revelation  of 
the  Divine  in  Jesus? 

It  may  be  seen  how  God  regards  our  everyday  life. 
Does  he  know  it  in  every  situation,  circumstance,  and 
event,  and  really  care  for  it  all  ?  It  is  made  up  of  such 
a  multitude  of  little  things.  Much  of  it  seems  perhaps 
to  be  commonplace  and  poor.  Here  in  this  flesh  and 
blood,  this  organized  dust,  in  the  daily  humdrum  of  one 
obscure  human  existence  out  of  a  thousand  million 
others, 

"  I  wonder  if  He  really  shares 
In  all  my  little  human  cares, 

This  mighty   King  of   kings; 
If  He  who  guides  each  blazing  star 
Through  realms  of  boundless  space  afar, 
Without  confusion,   noise,  or  jar, 

Stoops  to  these  petty  things." 

Jesus  makes  answer  in  his  word  concerning  the  lilies 
in  the  unfenced  fields  of  Palestine.  To  be  sure,  their 
garments  of  blue  and  purple  light  are  woven  for  them 
— or  rather  for  us — by  means  of  the  sun  which  rises 
at  its  appointed  time,  day  after  day,  to  shine  upon 
them.  But  these  numberless  little  garments  of  glory 
are  really  from  the  Source  of  the  sun — "  He  maketh 
his  sun  to  rise."  It  is  God's  sun ;  he  makes  it  rise  and 
shine.  And  there  is  not  the  simplest  wild  flower  climb- 
ing up  for  a  few  days  of  exquisite  life  in  the  sun- 
light but  is  a  handiwork  of  God  and  his  gift  to  whoso- 
ever is  able  to  receive  it. 


186  VISION  AND  POWER 

Thus  does  the  Master,  in  accord  with  the  prophetic 
witness  of  the  Old  Testament  that  there  is  One  who  is 
acquainted  with  all  our  ways  and  hears  every  word 
upon  our  tongues,  and  in  accord  with  the  theistic  in- 
sight that  the  Almighty  Creator  of  the  universe  is 
equally  the  God  of  the  atoms  and  of  the  worlds — ^thus 
does  the  Master  of  life  bid  us  open  our  eyes  upon  the 
perpetual  world-wide  picture  of  God's  care  for  each 
and  all  of  his  human  children.  "  Consider  the  lilies. 
.  .  .  But  if  God  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field,  which 
to-day  is  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  shall 
he  not  much  more  clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little  faith  ?  " 

It  was  not  only  in  his  teaching,  however,  that  our 
Lord  gave  expression  to  God's  caretaking.  It  was  also 
and  chiefly  in  his  own  personal  life.  That  is  to  say, 
Jesus  cared  for  people  individually,  and  in  so  doing 
gave  a  life-picture  of  the  Divine  care.  For  it  was  what 
he  saw  the  Father  doing  that  he  himself  habitually 
did.  "  Verily,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  the  Son  can  do 
nothing  of  himself,  but  what  he  seeth  the  Father  doing ; 
for  what  things  soever  he  doeth,  these  the  Son  also 
doeth  in  like  manner." 

There  was  no  aloofness  in  Jesus'  attitude  toward 
the  souls — ^men,  women,  children — gathered  about  him. 
On  the  contrary,  he  entered  with  sympathy  and  help 
into  life  as  it  was  to  them.  Had  he  not  himself  lived 
from  childhood  in  a  village  home  and  wrought  with 
his  hands  for  daily  bread  till  he  went  forth  to  preach 
the  kingdom  of  God  ?  And  thereafter  did  he  not 
know  what  it  was  to  be  hungry  and  athirst  and  tired, 
and  to  have  no  certain  dwelling-place  ?    He  sat  at  peo- 


VISION  OF  JESUS  187 

pie's  tables  and  called  them  by  their  names — ^Mary, 
Martha,  Simon,  Philip,  Zaccheus,  and  others.  He  said 
that  any  one  who  received  a  little  child  in  his  name 
received  him.  Dying,  he  commended  his  mother  to 
the  filial  kindness  of  John.  Even  after  he  had  risen 
from  the  dead,  "  he  was  known  of  them  " — of  two  un- 
named disciples  at  Emmaus — "  in  the  breaking  of 
the  bread." 

All  the  while  it  was  the  will  of  his  Father  for  which 
Jesus  supremely  cared.  Accordingly,  we  hear  him 
counsel  the  unburdening  of  the  heart  of  anxiety  about 
earthly  things  and  the  seeking  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  his  righteousness  as  the  supreme  good. 

And  the  significance  of  it  all,  from  our  present  point 
of  view,  is  in  that  one  word,  "  He  that  hath  seen  me 
hath  seen  the  Father."  Did  Jesus  care  for  the  things 
of  common  life  ?    Then  the  Father  in  heaven  cares. 

"  So,  to  our  mortal  eyes  subdued, 
Flesh-veiled  but  not  concealed. 
We  know  in  Thee  the  fatherhood 
And  heart  of  God  revealed." 

We  cannot  wonder,  then,  if  Simon  Peter,  in  whose 
life  Jesus  abode  as  he  did,  to  humble  and  to  honour 
him,  to  serve  and  save  and  govern  him,  should  have 
gained  a  heartfelt  appreciation  of  the  truth  of  God's 
own  caretaking.  For  he  did  gain  it,  and  write  it  down 
in  his  shepherding  of  others :  "  Humble  yourselves 
therefore  under  the  mighty  hand  of  God,  that  he  may 
exalt  you  in  due  time;  casting  all  your  anxiety  upon 
him,  because  he  careth  for  you."  *     Indeed,  of  what 

*I  Peter  5:  6,  7. 


188  VISION  AND  POWER 

word  from  this  apostle's  pen  might  one  not  truly  say, 
Learned  in  the  school  of  Jesus  ? 


VI 

It  is  also  evident  that  the  vision  of  God  in  Jesus  is  a 
vision  of  the  Divine  healing  compassion  in  the  inevitable 
sorrow  and  suffering  of  life. 

But  that  V7hich  far  outweighs  both  the  everyday  cir- 
cumstances and  the  great  sorrows  of  one's  life  is  the 
moral  relation  to  God.  Sin,  the  awful  possibility  of 
moral  freedom,  has  become  a  fact.  It  has  risen  up  in 
our  hearts ;  it  has  defiled  our  consciences ;  it  has  spread 
through  our  lives,  separating  between  God  and  our- 
selves so  that  we  cannot  look  upon  his  face  in  peace. 
For  "  if  we  say  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves 
and  the  truth  is  not  in  us."  What  can  be  done  about  it  ? 
Has  any  messenger  from  heaven  appeared  to  tell  the 
Divine  attitude  toward  one  who,  like  ourselves,  is  a 
sinner  ? 

It  needs  only  to  ask  what  was  the  attitude  of  Jesus ; 
and  this,  we  know,  was  that  of  unsparing  condemna- 
tion. He  detected  sin  under  all  its  disguises.  He 
showed  the  guilt  of  the  secret  sinful  motive,  altogether 
apart  from  any  embodiment  in  outward  act.  He  saw 
and  declared,  as  neither  lawgiver  nor  prophet  before 
him  had  declared,  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin  and  its 
inevitable  penalty  here  and  hereafter. 

Indeed,  the  law  as  set  forth  by  Jesus  was  not  less, 
but  greater  in  condemnation  than  as  set  forth  even 
by  the  psalmists  and  prophets  of  the  Old  Covenant. 
It  shows  sin  to  be  a  violation  in  heart  and  deed  of 


VISION  OF  JESUS  189 

the  Infinite  Love — "  an  offence  so  awful  in  its  guilt 
as  to  involve  the  passion  of  God  and  the  death  of  his 
Son."  And  goodness,  holiness,  is  obedience  from  the 
heart  to  that  violated  law  of  love. 

Who,  then,  can  stand  before  the  face  of  the  Heavenly- 
Father  and  pray,  "  I  would  be  heard  for  my  goodness' 
sake,  O  Lord  "  ?  Tell  me  that  I  must  honour  my  par- 
ents and  keep  holy  the  Sabbath  day  and  must  not  lie 
or  steal  or  covet,  and  I  am  condemned;  but  tell  me 
that  I  must  love  God  with  mj  whole  heart  and  my  fel- 
lows as  myself,  and  I  am,  oh,  how  much  more  deeply 
condemned.  In  the  presence  of  this  law  of  love  shining 
forth  from  the  words  of  Jesus,  verily  every  mouth  is 
stopped  and  the  whole  world  stands  guilty  before  God. 

Still  further,  that  which  Jesus  taught  he  lived.  So, 
the  holy  love  of  which  he  was  lawgiver  and  prophet 
was  to  him  not  as  to  others  an  ideal,  but  an  actual  and 
perpetual  realization.  He  was  the  Law  because  he 
was  the  incarnate  Love  of  God.  Thus  it  was  in  the 
light  of  his  life  that  men's  lives  were  judged.  "  Our 
secret  sins  in  the  light  of  Thy  countenance :  "  that  was 
the  light,  that  the  presence,  in  which  Moses,  the  man 
of  God,  saw  even  his  secret  sins.  'No  Greek  or  Roman 
idolater  could  use  such  language;  but  this  man  could 
use  it,  because  there  had  been  given  him  a  vision  of  the 
Most  Holy.  And  that  is  the  vision  which,  in  the  ful- 
ness of  its  revealing  and  convicting  power,  has  been 
brought  nigh  to  us  all  in  Jesus. 

It  was  through  the  life  of  the  Son  of  God,  therefore, 
that  he  whom  in  prayer  he  called  "  Holy  Father  "  and 
whom  a  prophet  had  called  the  "  high  and  lofty  One  that 


190  VISION  AND  POWER 

inhabiteth  eternity,  whose  name  is  Holy,"  was  shown 
to  be  near,  even  in  human  personality,  to  the  believ- 
ing heart. 

But  there  is  another  side  of  this  truth  to  be  seen  in 
Jesus.  As  holy  love,  and  that  alone,  most  effectively 
reveals  and  condemns  sin,  so  the  same  holy  love,  and 
that  alone,  can  save  the  sinner.  "  He  was  manifested 
to  take  away  sins;  and  in  him  is  no  sin."  Here, 
therefore,  in  the  unity  of  eternal  truth  are  both  the  law 
and  the  gospel  of  God.  The  law  is  Christ — "  in  him  is 
no  sin  " ;  the  gospel  is  Christ — "  he  was  manifested  to 
take  away  sins."  The  sinner  cannot  save  his  fellow- 
sinner — cannot  lift  him  above  himself.  But  the  Holy 
One  of  God  may  lift  him  up  to  himself  and  in  the  holi- 
ness of  redeeming  love  may  cleanse  him  from  all  sin. 

VII 

What  more  can  be  sought  or  declared?  Before  the 
unveiled  mystery  of  redemption  in  Jesus  Christ  we 
bow  the  head,  and  lift  up  the  heart  in  grateful  joy. 
It  is  the  eternal  truth  of  Divine  sacrificial  love.  Hid- 
den from  former  generations  and  ages,  it  was  revealed 
in  him.  "  Who  was  foreknown  indeed,"  says  the 
Apostle  who  once  could  not  receive  such  a  word  even 
from  the  lips  of  the  Master  himself,  "  before  the  foun- 
dation of  the  world,  but  was  manifested  at  the  end 
of  the  times  for  your  sake,  who  through  him  are  be- 
lievers in  God,  who  raised  him  from  the  dead  and  gave 
him  glory,  so  that  your  faith  and  hope  might  be  in 
God."  * 

*  I  Peter  1 :  20,  21. 


VISION  OF  JESUS  191 

"  Hid  from  all  ages  and  generations,"  the  revelation 
of  God's  eternal  purpose  in  Christ  was  nevertheless  pre- 
pared for  and  predicted.  It  was  prepared  for  by  the 
age-long  teaching  and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  God. 
It  was  predicted,  as  Peter  proclaimed  in  the  temple, 
"  by  the  mouth  of  His  holy  prophets  which  have  been 
since  the  world  began."  "^ 

But  not  by  these  alone.  It  was  foreshadowed  by 
world-wide  symbols,  ere  ever  a  prophet  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  had  spoken.  Wherever  a  simple  flower,  bloom- 
ing in  beauty,  put  forth  utmost  effort,  even  at  the  cost 
of  its  life,  to  ripen  the  seeds  which  should  enshrine 
the  life  of  flowers  to  bloom  when  its  own  little  day 
should  have  ended,  there  was  a  predictive  word,  spelled 
out  in  lowly  yet  lovely  letters,  of  the  giving  of  life 
for  the  sake  of  other  lives.  "  For  reproduction  alone," 
says  Henry  Drummond,  "  the  flower  is  created ;  when 
the  process  is  over  it  returns  to  the  dust.  This  miracle 
of  beauty  is  a  miracle  of  Love." 

And  as  we  ascend  in  the  scale  of  creation  there 
appears  a  succession  of  such  signs,  more  and  more 
significant. 

It  is  true,  the  animal  kingdom  is  a  scene  of  per- 
petual and  pitiless  self-seeking  at  the  expense  of  the 
lives  of  others.  Each  is  endeavouring  to  sustain  his 
own  life,  not  simply  careless  of  others,  but  in  a  myriad 
instances  feeding  directly  upon  them.  Therefore,  is  it 
a  world  of  unceasing  struggle  and  of  mingled  joy  and 
pain — as  a  despondent  spirit  complained,  "  a  world  of 
plunder  and  prey." 

•Acts  3:  21. 


192  VISION  AND  POWER 

But  this  is  far  from  being  the  whole  picture.  Side 
by  side  with  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  appears 
the  mysterious  power  of  instinctive  self-sacrificing  love. 
A  mother  dove  drops  from  her  nest  in  the  low-branched 
tree  and  flutters  in  apparent  disablement,  broken- 
winged,  almost  under  the  feet  of  the  passer-by.  What 
could  have  induced  a  happy  winged  creature  thus  need- 
lessly to  expose  her  life,  except  a  feeling  of  devotion 
to  the  helpless  nestlings  committed  to  her  care?  It  is 
a  scene  to  touch  any  thoughtful  mind  with  a  sense 
of  awe,  as  if  in  the  mystic  presence  of  a  Divine  truth 
foretokening  its  revelation  in  the  moral  sphere.  And 
the  very  existence  of  all  the  higher  orders  of  ani- 
mated nature  is  conditioned,  like  that  of  the  gentle  dove, 
upon  the  twin  principles  of  self-preservation  and  uncal- 
culating  parental  affection.  Yes,  upon  the  latter  as  truly 
as  upon  the  former — conditioned  upon  care  for  others  as 
truly  as  upon  self-care. 

In  the  human  world  these  same  two  cooperant  forces 
appear  in  various  familiar  forms,  instinctive  and  moral, 
as  self-love  and  love  to  others.  And  of  the  two  the 
greater  and  diviner  is  love  to  others.  How  it  ennobles 
the  spirit  of  the  mother,  the  friend,  the  patriot,  the 
philanthropist !  "Without  it  where  shall  we  find  the 
true  nobility  of  spirit?  Without  it  we  who  are  re- 
joicing in  life  to-day  could  never  have  been.  Without 
it  one  cannot  so  much  as  imagine  the  existence  of  a 
human  world.  "  Seekest  thou  great  things  for  thy- 
self ?  "    Seek  the  greatest  of  all,  which  is  simply  love. 

All  of  which  is  a  parable,  and  the  interpretation 
thereof  is  the  cross  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     Our 


VISION  OF  JESUS  193 

world  is  indeed  a  world  of  suffering  and  sacrifice  whose 
whole  meaning  even  the  most  illumined  spirit  is  not 
prophet  enough  to  tell.  But  we  do  know  that  it  is 
through  suffering  and  sacrifice  that  love,  greatest  of 
all  things  that  can  enter  into  the  life  of  man,  is  made 
perfect  in  power  and  achievement.  And  when  on  Cal- 
vary the  Sinless  One,  hated,  scorned,  put  to  agony 
and  shame,  gave  himself  up  for  this  world  of  sinners, 
sacrificial  love  told  its  meaning — told  what  place  it 
holds  in  the  mind  and  purpose  of  the  Eternal. 

Blessed,  indeed,  is  the  man  to  whom  is  given  the 
opportunity  to  tell  and  interpret  to  the  world,  in  liv- 
ing words,  this  vision  of  innermost  spiritual  truth. 


IX 
THE  OPPORTUNITY 

Peter  went  up  upon  the  housetop  to  pray,  about  the 
sixth  hour. — Acts   10:  9. 

The  Spirit  said  unto  him,  Behold  three  men  seek 
thee.  But  arise  and  get  thee  down  and  go  with  them, 
nothing  doubting;  for  I  have  sent  them. — Acts  10:  19,  20. 

And  on  the  morrow  he  arose  and  went  forth  with 
them,  and  certain  of  the  brethren  from  Joppa  accom- 
panied him.  And  on  the  morrow  they  entered  into 
Caesarea. — Acts  10 :  23,  24. 

Who  was  I,  that  I  could  withstand  God? — Acts  11 :  17. 

THE  vision  of  the  Clean  and  the  Unclean  had 
a  practical  import.  As  with  the  devoted  Mary 
of  Magdala,  not  permitted  to  linger  with  the 
Risen  One,  but  sent  forthwith  as  a  bearer  of  his  mes- 
sage, so  with  the  Apostle  Peter  on  the  housetop,  think- 
ing and  wondering.  Very  soon  he  must  go  down  from 
that  sacred  solitude,  and  then  forty  miles  away,  to  tell 
the  truth  of  Jesus  which  he  was  now  learning.  His 
ecstatic  experience  was  not  simply  a  thing  to  be  enjoyed 
or  wondered  at.  The  heart  of  it  was  an  evangel  to  be 
proclaimed. 

Indeed,  is  not  this  true  of  whatever  knowledge  is 
gained  at  any  time  by  the  truth-lover?  It  is  not  for 
him  alone.  Its  value  is  universal.  All  truth  is  for 
all  men,  according  as  they  have  ears  to  hear  it  and 
conscience  to  use  it  aright^ — none  of  it  the  exclusive 
privilege  of  a  certain  educated  circle  or  student  body 

194 


THE  OPPORTUNITY  195 

or  priestly  caste.  Hence  the  scholar  owes  a  special 
debt  to  society.  He  has  more  to  give  than  others,  and 
must  give  proportionally.  "  If  the  readiness  is  there,  it 
is  acceptable  according  as  a  man  hath/'  "  What  you 
know  you  owe." 


Peter's  vision,  then,  was  intended  to  equip  him  for 
larger  service.  It  was  for  others'  sake,  that  they  might 
become  sharers  with  him  of  the  Good  News  in  Christ. 
And  behold,  the  Giver  of  the  vision  has  already  pro- 
vided an  opportunity  for  the  communication  of  its 
content  to  a  prepared  soul — even  now  are  the  men 
from  Csesarea  downstairs,  calling  at  the  gate.  For 
to  Cornelius,  a  devout  man  who  "  prayed  to  God 
alway,"  there  had  also  appeared  a  vision,  in  which  it 
was  bidden  him  send  men  to  Joppa  for  a  man  named 
Simon  Peter,  who  would  tell  him  what  he  ought  to 
do.  Thus  the  two  lines  of  providential  training  and 
guidance,  one  from  Rome  and  the  other  from  Jerusa- 
lem, are  converging  at  Csesarea;  and  the  word  of  eter- 
nal life  in  Christ  is  about  to  be  sowed  in  a  heart  made 
good  ground  for  its  reception. 

It  may  serve  as  an  example  of  what  is  taking  place 
continually  in  the  world  about  us.  There  is  noth- 
ing more  common  in  human  observation  and  experience 
than  such  converging  lines.  There  is  nothing  taken 
apparently  more  as  a  matter  of  course  than  the  oppor- 
tunities, occurring  and  recurring,  of  getting  good  for 
ourselves  and  doing  good  to  others. 

Not  indeed  that  these  everyday  occurrences  are  usu- 


196  VISION  AND  POWER 

ally  through  the  intervention  of  unprecedented  visions 
or  affecting  signs.  Far  from  it.  But  such  a  sign  may 
awaken  in  the  percipient's  mind  a  dormant  sense  of 
the  Divine  presence,  providence,  and  control ;  and  this 
providential  presence  and  control,  we  need  have  no 
doubt,  is  all  about  us  continuously  and  everywhere. 
How  otherwise  could  there  be  a  dependent  world-life 
at  all  ?  From  one  direction  God  in  nature  is,  through 
long  ages,  preparing  the  soil;  from  another  direction 
God  in  humanity  is  preparing  the  sower;  and  at  the 
appointed  time,  lo,  the  sower  is  seen  going  forth  to 
sow — shortly  afterward,  a  harvest.  It  is  true  literally 
and  it  is  true  as  a  parable  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
There  is  the  prepared  hearer  and  the  prepared  teacher 
and  the  hand  of  God  bringing  them  together. 

Have  you  met  with  this  account  of  a  sermon  in  the 
history  of  Christian  preaching? — 

"  I  sometimes  think  that  I  might  have  been  in  darkness  and 
despair  until  now,  had  it  not  been  for  the  goodness  of  God  in 
sending  a  snowstorm,  one  Sunday  morning,  while  I  was  going  to 
a  certain  place  of  worship.  When  I  could  go  no  further  I 
turned  down  a  side  street  and  came  to  a  little  Primitive  Methodist 
Chapel.  In  that  chapel  there  may  have  been  a  dozen  or  fifteen 
persons.  ...  At  last  a  very  thin-looking  man,  a  shoemaker  or 
tailor  or  something  of  that  sort,  went  up  into  the  pulpit  to 
preach.  .  .  .  The  text  was,  '  Look  unto  Me  and  be  ye  saved,  all 
the  ends  of  the  earth.'  .  .  .  The  preacher  began  thus:  *My 
friends,  this  is  a  very  simple  text  indeed.  It  says,  *  Look.'  Now 
lookin'  don't  take  a  great  deal  of  pains.  It  ain't  liftin'  your  foot 
or  your  finger;  it  is  just  "Look."  Well,  a  man  needn't  go  to 
college  to  learn  to  look.  You  may  be  the  biggest  fool  on  earth 
and  yet  you  can  look.'  .  .  .  Then  lifting  up  his  hands  he  shouted, 
as  only  a  Primitive  Methodist  can  shout,  'Young  man,  look  to 
Jesus  Christ.  Look!  Look!  Look!  You  have  nothing  to  do  but 
look  and  live.'  I  saw  at  once  the  way  of  salvation.  .  .  .  There 
and  then  the  cloud  was  gone,  the  darkness  had  rolled  away  and 
that  moment  I  saw  the  sun;  and  I  could  have  risen  that  in- 
stant, and  sung,  with  the  most  enthusiastic  of  them,  of  the  precious 
blood  of  Christ  and  the  simple  faith  which  looks  alone  to  him." 


THE  OPPORTUNITY  197 

The  name  of  the  preacher  no  one  knows;  the  name 
of  the  young  man  was  Charles  Haddon  Spurgeon.  Have 
we  no  better  word  in  which  to  describe  the  relation  of 
that  Sunday  snowstorm  to  that  historic  conversion  than 
the  word  "  accidental  "  ? 

Nor  is  it  an  exceeding  strange  experience  for  the 
Christian  preacher  to  be  impressed  with  a  real  sense 
of  the  Divine  providence  and  guidance  in  the  oppor- 
tunities of  his  personal  ministry.  I  remember  to  have 
had  it  in  mind  during  a  certain  week  to  preach,  on 
the  next  Sunday,  from  the  petition,  "  Lead  us  not  into 
temptation."  It  was  difficult,  however,  to  decide. 
There  was  reason  to  believe  that  to  many  persons  in  my 
congregation  this  petition  of  their  daily  Christian 
prayer  was  practically  meaningless.  What  a  good  thing 
it  might  be  to  make  it  luminous  and  real  to  them. 
But  it  was  a  difficult  theme,  and  I  distrusted  my  ability 
to  set  it  forth  effectively.  Then,  almost  at  the  point 
of  deciding  in  favour  of  another,  I  turned  back  to  my 
first  choice.  On  the  next  Sunday  a  devout  Christian 
woman,  the  wife  of  a  retired  minister,  came  to  me  after 
service  and  said :  "  I  wanted  you  to  preach  on  that 
very  text  to-day,  and  was  about  to  write  a  request  that 
you  would.  But  I  talked  with  my  husband  about  it 
and  he  said  that  perhaps  I  had  better  not.  Then  I 
made  it  a  subject  of  prayer  and  asked  the  Lord  that 
you  might  do  so."  She  believed  that  the  Lord  had 
heard  her  prayer  and  granted  her  request — had  sent  her 
the  interpretative  word  which  she  had  felt  the  need  of 
and  had  asked  for. 

Simply  a  coincidence  ?     Some  would  certainly  say 


1»8  VISION  AND  POWER 

so.  "  Supposing  that  both  the  good  woman  and  yourself 
have  given  an  accurate  and  uncoloured  statement  of 
the  facts,  it  was  a  mere  coincidence  after  all."  Possibly 
it  was — if  one  could  get  a  satisfactory  idea  of  what  the 
phrase  "  a  mere  coincidence,"  in  such  a  world  as  ours, 
really  means.  But  if  God  in  his  providence  is  ever 
near  them  that  trust  him,  and  if  God  by  his  Spirit 
abides  ever  in  their  hearts,  awakening  prayer,  impart- 
ing grace,  teaching  wisdom,  who  will  undertake  to  say 
how  much  or  how  little  of  that  wondrous  providence 
and  of  that  Spirit's  guidance  appears  in  the  converging 
lines  of  any  two  Christian  lives  ? 

"  It  chanced — eternal  God  that  chance  did  guide." 

May  we  never  be  numbered  with  the  generation  of 
them  that  are  ever  seeking  a  sign;  or  that  conceive 
of  providence  as  favoritism;  or  that  do  not  distin- 
guish between  the  specific  request  and  the  real  prayer. 
May  we  never  fail  to  realize  that  the  Ruler  of  both 
the  physical  and  the  spiritual  realm  is  the  author  of 
order  and  not  of  confusion  or  of  caprice,  and  that  his 
ways  and  thoughts  are  higher  than  ours  even  as  the 
heavens  are  higher  than  the  earth.  But  let  us  also 
unite  in  confession  of  faith  with  those  who  believe  the 
God  of  law  and  love,  in  his  providence  and  by  his 
Spirit,  to  be  as  truly  present  in  the  hearts  and  lives 
of  his  children  as  ever  in  the  earliest  day  of  the  world 
or  in  the  spring-time  of  Christianity. 

"  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  before  they  call  I 
will  answer,  and  while  they  are  yet  speaking  I  will 
hear." 


THE  OPPORTUNITY  199 


n 

It  is,  however,  Tvith  the  constantly  occurring  rather 
than  with  the  exceptionally  marked  opportunities  that 
we  are  chiefly  concerned.  And  these  everyday  oppor- 
tunities are  numerous  indeed.  N^umberless  the  open 
doors  to  willing  doers  of  good.  For  God  means  good 
for  us  all,  one  toward  another,  in  the  whole  economy 
of  the  world. 

He  means  it,  rest  assured,  by  one's  daily  work.  Think 
not  that  we  should  be  better  off  without  this  regularly 
recurring  task.  More  probably  we  should  suffer  serious 
moral  loss.  "  A  whole  lifetime  of  idleness,  amusement, 
and  dissatisfaction  with  life,"  was  Count  Tolstoi's  de- 
scription of  the  circle  of  the  envied  children  of  leisure 
in  which  he  had  been  born.  Thanks  be  unto  God  for 
his  great  and  beneficent  ordinance  of  labour. 

Various  circumstances,  indeed,  that  seem  least  fa- 
vourable, or  even  antagonistic,  in  the  course  of  any 
common  day,  may  be  offering  a  needful  discipline  to 
the  spiritual  powers.  "  He  exercises  me,"  said  Epicte- 
tus  of  a  reviler,  "  in  patience,  in  moderation,  in  meek- 
ness. ...  Is  my  neighbour  a  bad  one?  He  is  so  to 
himself,  but  a  good  one  to  me.  He  exercises  my  good 
temper,  my  moderation."  "  Count  it  all  joy,"  says  the 
New  Testament,  "  when  ye  fall  into  manifold  tempta- 
tions [or,  trials^,  knowing  that  the  proving  of  your 
faith  worketh  patience.  And  let  patience  have  its  per- 
fect work,  that  ye  may  be  perfect  and  entire,  lacking 
in  nothing." 


200  VISION  AND  POWER 

^Nor  is  the  opportunity  of  service  to  others  any  less 
an  ever-present  feature  of  human  life.  In  the  home, 
where  life  begins,  it  is  exemplified  not  only  in  the 
obvious  case  of  what  the  parent  may  do  for  the  child, 
but  also  in  what  the  child  may  do  for  the  parent.  It  is 
an  invariable  attendant  of  all  human  relationships. 
When  God  made  man  so  that  he  could  not  live  his 
life  alone,  he  made  him  so  that  he  should  perpetually 
be  a  neighbour  to  his  neighbour,  a  brother  to  his  brother, 
a  servant  and  benefactor  to  his  fellow.  Talk  not  of 
narrow  circumstances,  limited  spheres,  meagre  oppor- 
tunities. Complain  not  that  the  commonplaces  of  life 
so  greatly  outnumber  its  sublimities  and  its  crises.  Hu- 
man personalities  all  about  us  are  open  to  the  touch 
of  our  own.  "  Quivering  with  possibilities,  eloquent 
with  invitations  "  this  moment,  is  the  human  world  in 
which  we  live.  Let  but  the  man  arise,  living  the  life 
of  the  Spirit,  at  any  time,  anywhere,  and  opportunity 
for  some  Christly  service  will  be  there  to  greet  him. 

A  farmer  had  a  seedling  pear-tree  whose  fruit  was 
worthless.  A  near  neighbour  asked  permission  to  graft 
it.  The  farmer,  though  indifferent  and  probably  scep- 
tical as  to  the  results,  granted  the  request.  The  scion 
"  took."  Tor  more  than  half  a  century  the  transformed 
tree  has  borne  abundant  harvests,  and  it  is  bearing 
still.  Hundreds  upon  hundreds  of  men,  women,  and 
children  have  found  health  and  enjoyment  in  its  deli- 
cious fruit — some  of  them  from  childhood  to  old  age. 
So  much  for  the  fruitage  in  human  comfort  of  a  single 
thoughtful  neighbourly  act.  Who  would  not  like  to 
have  been  the  doer  of  it? 


THE  OPPORTUNITY  201 

But  suppose  that  one  might  engraft  some  word  of 
truth  in  a  neighbour's  soul,  whose  years  shall  not  be 
half  a  hundred,  but  shall  never  fail.  And  this,  too,  is 
more  than  possible  to  whosoever  has  the  wisdom  to  do 
it  and  the  neighbourly  heart  to  recognize  his  oppor- 
tunity. 

One's  very  last  hour  on  earth  may  bring  no  less 
an  opportunity  than  any  that  have  gone  before.  "  Now 
this  He  spake  " — Jesus  spake  concerning  Simon  Peter 
— "  signifying  by  what  manner  of  death  he  should 
glorify  OodJ" 

"  So  he  died  for  his  faith.    That  is  fine — 
More  than  most  of  us  do. 
But  say,  can  you  add  to  that  line. 
That  he  lived  for  it  too?" 

We  can.  This  man  lived  for  it;  and  true  enough,  that 
was  better  than  simply  to  die  for  it.  Nevertheless,  what 
a  shining  testimony  was  that  when  he  stretched  forth 
his  hands  to  be  bound  by  those  who  were  putting  him 
to  death  as  a  witness  for  his  Lord.  The  surrendered 
lives  of  heroic  souls,  how  it  has  wrought  in  all  lands 
and  in  all  ages  for  the  kingdom  of  God.  "  If  any  more 
are  burned,  bum  them  in  cellars,"  it  was  said  to  the 
persecutors  of  the  Scotch  Covenanters — so  effectively 
did  the  death  of  the  martyr  advertise  his  faith  among 
the  people. 

We  of  to-day  are  not  incurring  the  least  risk  of  being 
burned  by  the  enemies  of  our  faith.  Nevertheless,  it 
is  quite  possible  that  we  may  pass  out  of  this  life,  even 
as  we  may  pass  through  it,  so  as  to  glorify  God.  For, 
under  the  most  ordinary  circumstances,  death  may  be 


202  VISION  AND  POWER 

met,  not  with  a  slavish  yielding  to  inevitable  necessity, 
but  in  the  spirit  of  such  free  and  trustful  acquiescence 
in  the  will  of  the  Heavenly  Father  as  to  make  it  a 
singularly  serviceful  Christian  witness.  To  die  well  is 
to  do  good.  Death  may  be  the  crowning  opportunity 
of  life. 

in 

Moreover,  men  are  adapted — it  is  a  sweet  and  awful 
thought — to  co-working  with  God.  They  may  work 
together  with  him  in  gaining  good  for  themselves.  Put 
these  two  words  of  apostolic  teaching  side  by  side :  "  Ye 
are  God's  building  " — God  is  forming  your  spiritual 
character ;  "  Building  up  yourselves  on  your  most  holy 
faith  " — forming  your  own  spiritual  character. 

Of  the  oldest  of  us,  as  of  the  youngest,  it  is  mani- 
festly true  that  as  yet  we  are  only  in  the  making.  Let 
us,  therefore,  be  patient  toward  the  incompleteness  of 
our  neighbour.  Let  us  also  not  misjudge  his  Maker 
and  ours ;  for  it  is  the  end  that  proves  the  work.  "  When 
that  which  is  perfect  is  come,  that  which  is  in  part  shall 
be  done  away."  But  we  are  still  imperfect,  inhabiting 
a  world  of  the  imperfect,  and  in  passing  judgment  upon 
the  plan  and  work  of  the  Maker,  in  case  of  that  which 
is  still  in  the  making,  we  show  ourselves  as  judges  to 
be  very  imperfect  indeed.  Sometimes  it  is  said  in  con- 
gregational prayer,  "  when  Thou  art  done  with  us  on 
earth."  And  we  may  devoutly  give  thanks  to  the 
Maker  of  us  that  he  is  not  yet  done  with  us  on  earth, 
and  for  the  hope  that  he  will  not  be  done  with  us  in 
the  life  immortal. 


THE  OPPORTUNITY  203 

"Do  with  us  what  thou  wilt,  all-glorious  Heart! 
Thou  God  of  them  that  are  not  yet,  but  grow! 
We  trust  thee  for  the  thing  we  shall  be  yet; 
We  too  are  ill  content  with  what  we  are." 

I  had  a  house  in  building.  Returning  to  inspect  it 
after  a  somewhat  lengthy  absence,  I  was  displeased. 
There  were  features  of  the  half-finished  structure  that 
seemed  an  affront  to  both  good  taste  and  good  judg- 
ment. "  Why  did  you  have  this  and  that  so  ?  "  I  asked. 
"  Wait  till  it  is  finished,"  replied  the  builder ;  "  that 
is  what  I  always  tell  them,  Wait  till  it  is  finished." 
And  sure  enough  when  the  house  was  completed  the 
apparent  fault  proved  to  be  a  most  attractive  feature; 
and  I  could  not  but  rejoice  that  the  unexpected  plan- 
ning had  been  done  by  a  higher  architectural  wisdom 
than  mine.  Since  which  time  I  have  seen  it  written 
in  a  book,  that  "  criticism  of  unfinished  architecture 
is  proverbially  false."  But  infinitely  higher  than  any 
of  ours  is  the  wisdom  of  the  Eternal  Architect  of  the 
unfinished  soul  and  the  unfinished  world. 

Moreover,  the  Maker  means,  let  us  ever  bear  it  in 
mind,  that  we  shall  have  a  part  in  our  own  making. 
Ten  thousand  things  will  he  do  with  no  cooperation  of 
ours,  but  in  the  building  of  character  we  are  God's 
fellow-workers.  Otherwise  "  the  liberty  of  the  glory 
of  the  children  of  God  "  would  be  impossible.  Awak- 
ened and  interpenetrated  by  his  gracious  power,  there 
must  be  our  o^vn  choice,  our  own  effort,  our  own  dili- 
gence. And  for  this  there  is  given  an  hourly  oppor- 
tunity. 

Then  as  to  one's  work  for  the  world.     Imagine  the 


204.  VISION  AND  POWER 

world  coming  this  hour  from  the  hand  of  its  Maker 
"without  the  free  cooperating  hand  of  man.  How  would 
it  appear?  IS"©  civilization,  no  Bible,  no  Church,  no 
letters,  no  civil  government,  no  handicraft,  no  dwelling- 
houses,  no  grain-fields,  no  human  life.  Is  it  not  the 
will  of  God  that  these  things — life,  civilization,  litera- 
ture, Christianity — should  be? 

Take,  for  instance,  our  relation  to  material  substances 
and  forces.  Would  the  Maker  of  the  ground  have  it 
cultivated  to  increase  of  fruitfulness  and  made  the 
habitat  of  happy  households  ?  Would  he  have  fruit- 
trees  planted  and  grafted,  wells  dug,  roads  constructed, 
bridges  builded,  ships  sent  forth  upon  the  great  waters  ? 
Would  he  have  deserts  incited  through  irrigation  to 
blossom  into  beauty,  or  to  yield  up  their  stores  of  food 
and  drink  through  removal  of  the  no  longer  needed 
"  spiny  armour  "  of  their  native  plants  ?  Would  he 
have  typhoid  fever,  diphtheria,  the  "  white  plague," 
traced  to  their  microscopic  hiding-places  and  confronted 
with  the  forces  of  prevention  and  cure?  Would  he 
have  flames  of  fire  come  forth  at  command  as  our 
familiar  household  servants?  Would  he  have  the  all- 
encompassing  air  a  whispering  gallery  in  which  souls 
may  intercommunicate  across  a  thousand  miles  of  track- 
less seas  ?  Would  he  have  the  Roentgen  ray  discovered, 
and  employed  in  the  cure  of  physical  ills  ?  To  come  to 
every  one's  daily  life,  would  he  have  the  air  we  breathe 
moulded  into  music  and  articulate  speech  ?  Then  must 
man,  dweller  in  the  dust  though  he  is,  constantly  co- 
operate with  him  of  whom  Jesus  said,  "  My  Father 
worketh  hitherto." 


THE  OPPORTUNITY  205 

It  might  have  been  the  will  of  God,  so  one  may  imag- 
ine, to  sustain  the  life  of  his  human  children  wholly, 
as  he  has  done  partly,  by  the  immediacy  of  "  nature  " 
to  their  bodily  wants — to  give  them  food  and  raiment 
as  he  gives  them  light  and  air.  But  such  is  not  his 
chosen  method.  Count,  if  you  can,  the  number  of 
hands  through  which  the  bread  of  this  morning  was  laid 
upon  your  table.  Yet,  in  the  truest  sense,  it  was  from 
One  Hand  through  innumerable  others.  Of  just  such 
things  has  a  prophet  of  old  declared :  "  This  also  cometh 
forth  from  Jehovah  of  hosts,  who  is  wonderful  in  coun- 
sel and  excellent  in  wisdom."  *  So,  then,  the  oppor- 
tunity offered  the  farmer,  the  miller,  the  baker,  the 
housewife,  is  God's  own  chosen  and  ordained  oppor- 
tunity as  the  giver  of  our  daily  bread. 

Hard  work  for  human  brains  and  hands,  is  it,  and 
age-long,  time-long,  all  this  striving  after  the  goods  of 
life  for  ourselves  and  our  fellows  ?  Grievous  oftentimes 
to  the  flesh,  no  doubt;  but  seen  from  the  Divine  side, 
joyous  and  uplifting  to  the  spirit.  "  Praising  we  plough 
and  singing  we  sow,"  wrote  Clement  of  Alexandria  for 
the  Christians  of  his  day.  And  what  other  spirit,  pray, 
is  suitable  to  the  man  who  realizes  that  the  work  of  his 
hands  is  not  common  or  unclean,  but  contrariwise  a  bit 
of  God's  work  in  the  world  ?  His  work  itself  becomes 
a  song.  It  is  done  in  the  power  of  the  heavenly  vision 
that  lifts  drudgery  into  glory. 

It  is  well  also  to  bear  in  mind  that  only  in  the  way 
of  active  effort  to  gain  his  objects  of  desire,  the  good 
and  the  useful,  can  man  become  man.     Without  it  we 

•Isaiah    28:24-29    (margin,    effectual   toorking). 


206  VISION  AND  POWER 

should  be  idlers,  weaklings,  savages.  ISTo  exertioB,  no 
growth.  No  struggle,  no  strength.  No  striving  toward 
a  great  conscious  aim  of  personal  achievement,  no  at- 
tainment of  the  great  unconscious  aim  of  personal 
development. 

IV 

Especially  notable  is  this  fact  of  opportunity  in  the 
life  of  the  Christian  preacher.  Has  he  seen  in  Jesus 
the  vision  of  God  ?  Then  the  truth  which  it  is  given 
him  to  minister  is  a  veritable  word  of  life.  It  is  that 
which  of  all  things  it  most  concerns  sinful  souls  to 
hear.  And  surely  if  it  is  given  any  one,  it  is  given  him 
to  tell  it.  He  is  recognized  distinctively  as  a  guide  of 
souls,  a  "  light  of  them  that  are  in  darkness."  To  him 
was  Cornelius  bidden  to  apply  for  instruction — the  par- 
ticular preacher  in  this  case  being  one  of  those  who 
had  been  with  Jesus  and  had  been  sent  forth  by  him. 
"  Now  therefore  we  are  all  here  present  in  the  sight 
of  God,  to  hear  all  things  that  have  been  commanded 
thee  of  the  Lord."  Thus  an  audience  will  gather  about 
the  preacher  for  the  very  reason,  even  if  there  be  no 
other,  that  he  is  supposed  to  speak  the  word  of  God. 

Not  that  the  preacher's  audiences  are  likely  to  be 
wholly  composed  of  such  recipient  souls.  Many  of  his 
hearers  will  show  a  different  mind.  They  will  be  living 
for  the  enjoyment,  gross  or  refined,  which  can  be  got  out 
of  the  world,  and  not  for  the  service  they  can  render. 
It  is  an  anti-Christian,  a  pagan,  philosophy  of  life. 
They  must  be  won  by  speech,  persuasive  and  command- 
ing, to  look  upon  life  in  the  light  of  Christ. 


THE  OPPORTUNITY  207 

But  more  and  more  the  preacher's  audience  will  be- 
come a  congregation — not  an  occasional  assembly  of 
hearers,  but  a  gathered  flock,  regularly  waiting  upon  his 
ministrations. 

"This  is   my  opportunity; 
I  stand,  0  Lord,  'twixt  these  and  Thee: 
Grant  me  Thy  light  that  I  may  know 
How  best  the  seeds  of  truth  to  sow. 

"  The  weary  man,  the  little  child. 
The  vigorous  youth,  the  mother  mild. 
Lift  up  their  eyes  and  wait  for  me: 
What  shall  I  say  to  them  for  Thee?" 

To  the  preacher-pastor,  also,  as  to  no  other  man,  the 
homes  of  the  people,  from  the  lowliest  to  the  palatial, 
are  opened.  He  will  be  honoured  for  his  office'  sake  and 
esteemed  highly  in  love  for  his  work's  sake.  Cornelius, 
the  Roman  captain,  fell  down  before  the  fisherman 
apostle  to  do  him  homage. 

And  not  only  is  the  preacher's  word  a  ministry  to 
the  highest  interests  of  the  soul,  but  it  is  a  concen- 
tiated  and  a  continual  ministry.  He  does  not  need  to 
spend  his  strength  in  the  earning  of  a  livelihood.  On 
the  contrary,  all  his  time  and  energy  may  be  devoted 
directly  to  the  saving  of  his  brother  men  and  the  build- 
ing of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 

I  noticed  in  a  newspaper  this  morning  that  a  church 
on  the  Congo  is  reported  to  have  made  an  arrangement 
for  nine  out  of  every  ten  men  to  unite  for  the  support 
of  the  tenth,  in  order  that  he  may  give  his  whole  time 
to  preaching  the  gospel.  So  there  would  seem  to  be 
an  illustrative  fact  from  even  the  heart  of  Africa — 
an  example  of  the  large  and  honoured  place  which  the 


208  VISION  AND  POWER 

Church  of  Christ  is  disposed  to  provide  for  him  who 
would  "  continue  steadfastly  in  prayer  and  in  the  min- 
istry of  the  word."  To  him  verily  the  door  of  oppor- 
tunity is  flung  wide  open. 


Not,  however,  that  opportunity  is  always  found  to 
be  an  easy  door  to  enter.  The  word  (oh-portus)  does  in- 
deed mean  "  at  the  port " ;  and  it  is  a  great  word  in 
the  vocabulary  of  life.  But  it  does  not  imply  that  all 
difficulty  and  danger  are  here  left  behind.  Such  an 
idea  would  be  a  capital  mistake.  To  reach  the  port  is 
indeed  to  get  off  the  barren  waters  and  on  the  fruitful 
land;  but  the  toiler  of  the  sea  is  not  the  only  toiler. 
Even  the  peace-loving  farmer  must  overcome  many  diffi- 
culties and  wage  warfare  with  many  enemies  before  he 
gathers  his  wheat  into  the  granary.  Opportunity  means, 
among  other  things,  labour  and  conflict.  A  new  coun- 
try may  offer  an  inviting  prospect  to  the  well-qualified 
settler,  but  only  at  the  price  of  a  pioneer's  peculiar  self- 
denials,  discouragements,  and  efforts.  The  same  coun- 
try may  offer  a  similar  prospect  to  the  preacher  who 
would  have  the  joy  of  laying  the  foundation  of  churches 
that  will  live  to  bless  the  land  through  coming  genera- 
tions; but  let  him  not  be  surprised  when  the  similar 
offer  meets  him  with  a  demand  for  a  corresponding 
price. 

"  A  great  door  and  effectual  is  opened  unto  me,"  says 
the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  writing  from  Ephesus,  "  and 
there  are  many  adversaries."  So,  because  of  the  open 
door  and  despite  the  adversaries,  there  the  evangelist- 


THE  OPPORTUNITY  209 

pastor  remained,  labouring  both  publicly  and  from  house 
to  house,  for  the  space  of  three  years — his  longest  pas- 
torate ;  "  so  that  all  they  who  dwelt  in  Asia  heard  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  both  Jews  and  Greeks."  A  church 
was  gathered  and  an  inspired  epistle  written  it  which 
is  in  the  Church  Universal  to-day.  And  what  else  ? 
"  I  fought  with  beasts  at  Ephesus." 

So  too  at  Philippi,  where  the  church  which  he  and 
his  fellow-itinerants  had  founded  was  ever  after  the 
joy  of  the  great  apostle's  heart.  "  Come  over  into 
Macedonia  and  help  us :  "  "  And  the  multitude  rose  up 
together  against  them;  and  the  magistrates  rent  their 
garments  off  them,  and  commanded  to  beat  them  with 
rods." 

As  then,  so  now.  About  every  open  door  of  the  gospel 
in  pagan  or  in  Christian  cities  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury, the  same  first-century  foes,  the  same  unbelief, 
sensuality,  worldliness,  self-interest,  superstition — old 
foes  with  new  faces — are  ready  to  gather. 

As  for  the  Apostle  Peter,  it  was  not  long  till  the 
adversaries  rose  up  against  him  for  entering  the  open 
door  in  Csesarea.  In  this  case  they  were  some  of  his 
own  brethren,  the  Hebrew  Christians  in  Jerusalem. 
For  they  contended  with  him,  face  to  face,  for  enter- 
ing the  house  and  sitting  at  the  table  of  a  Gentile. 
Peter  made  a  satisfactory  defence,  "  expounded  the 
matter  unto  them  in  order,"  so  that  they  held  their  peace 
and  glorified  God.  But  there  is  a  note  of  warning  in 
the  fact  that  on  a  subsequent  occasion  Peter  was  drawn 
back  by  the  same  type  of  adversaries  into  reactionary 
behaviour.     It  was  in  Antioch,  at  that  time  the  center 


210  VISION  AND  POWER 

of  Gentile  Christianity,  where,  under  the  influence  of 
certain  ultra-conservative  brethren  from  the  less  enlight- 
ened yet  loved  and  respected  mother  church,  he  with- 
drew for  a  while  at  least  from  such  social  intercourse 
as  eating  at  the  same  table  with  the  Gentile  Christians 
— the  old-time  vacillating  temper  once  more  emergent. 
For  then  as  now  was  the  heavenly  treasure  borne  in 
earthen  vessels ;  and  not  even  of  a  chief  of  the  Apostles, 
whether  Paul  or  Peter,  was  "  the  excellency  of  the 
power  " ;  but  of  God  only. 

Who  is  habitually  spoken  of  as  having  a  wider  or 
more  open  field  for  evangelism,  at  least  within  the  last 
three  centuries,  than  John  Wesley  ?  Think  of  his  jour- 
neyings  to  and  fro  among  the  neglected  and  unevan- 
gelized  millions  of  the  poor  in  his  native  England. 
Think  of  the  assistants  he  won,  the  literature  he  pub- 
lished, the  organization  he  developed.  Nevertheless, 
whose  pathway  of  unsurpassed  success  was  more  note- 
worthy for  disappointments  and  failures,  or  more 
thickly  infested  with  all  manner  of  opponents?  An 
open  door,  many  adversaries. 

In  any  event,  the  obligation  abides  to  share  the 
knowledge  of  evangelic  truth  with  others.  And  the 
obligation  is  measured  by  the  opportunity.  "  As  we 
have  opportunity,  let  us  work  that  which  is  good  toward 
all  men."  As  we  have  it,  not  as  we  see  it;  for  the 
opportunity  may  be  present,  easily  within  reach,  and 
through  inattentiveness  unrecognized  by  us.  "  Say  not 
ye.  There  are  yet  four  months  and  then  cometh  the 
harvest.  Behold,  I  say  unto  you,  Lift  up  your  eyes 
and  look  on  the  fields,  that  they  are  white  already  unto 


THE  OPPORTUNITY  211 

harvest."  May  we  have  the  will  to  see  in  order  that 
we  may  lay  hold  of  the  ever-present  opportunity.  Fi- 
delity is  clear-sighted.  Here,  therefore,  appears  the 
greatness  of  the  Christian  preacher's  obligation;  for, 
as  already  noted,  the  field  offered  to  him  in  which  to 
sow  the  good  seed — or  to  gather  the  ripening  grain — is 
extraordinarily  great  and  effectual.  "  Thou  canst,  then 
thou  must."  For  what  is  duty?  Nothing  less,  what- 
ever more  it  may  be,  than  "  the  harmony  of  will  with 
opportunity." 

Nor  is  such  opportunity  to  be  greeted  with  a  sense 
of  obligation  alone.  More  and  more,  as  the  inner 
life  deepens,  will  the  sense  of  duty  be  interfused  with 
a  spirit  of  freedom  and  gladness.  Thus  not  only  "  I 
must,"  but  also  "  I  may,"  shall  be  followed  by  "  There- 
fore I  will."  The  fact  of  one's  obedience  being  dutiful 
does  not  prevent  its  being  free.  Conscience  may  be 
growing  more  penetrative  and  luminous,  and  love  at 
the  same  time  more  discerning  and  masterful.  To  do 
the  will  of  our  Father  in  heaven — is  it  not  being  felt, 
as  the  years  hasten  by,  less  as  a  task  and  more  as  the 
sweet  and  wholesome  food  of  the  spirit? 


ENLARGEMENT  OF  OPPORTUNITY 


Ye  yourselves  know  how  it  is  an  unlawful  thing  for 
a  man  that  is  a  Jew  to  join  himself  or  come  unto  one 
of  another  nation;  and  yet  unto  me  hath  God  showed 
that  I  should  not  call  any  man  common  or  unclean. — 
Acts  10:28. 


"  1'  CAME,"  said  Peter  to  Cornelius,  "  without 
I  gainsaying  (avavTipi^Too?,  not  speaking  against 
it)"  Had  he  been  unwilling  to  go,  there  is 
good  reason  to  believe  that  he  would  have  spoken  against 
it — being  temperamentally  the  man  he  was.  He  went 
freely,  and  thereby  added  to  the  effectiveness  of  his 
personal  bearing  and  his  message. 


Is  there  conscious  constraint  on  the  soul  of  the 
preacher?  What  is  it?  What  is  the  inner  word  that 
wins  him  and  impels  him  and  will  not  let  him  live 
at  his  ease?  Happy  is  he  if  it  be  no  selfish  ambition 
but  that  Christian  zeal,  that  sacrificial  enthusiasm, 
which  is  the  aggressiveness  of  Christian  love.  Let  him 
attend  faithfully  to  his  round  of  daily  duties,  like  the 
typewriter  at  his  machine  or  the  bookkeeper  at  his  desk. 
This  cannot  be  blamelessly  neglected.  But  if  this  be 
all,  there  is  but  half  a  preparation  for  the  opportunities 
of  his  ministry.     The  apostle  of  Jesus  is  not  to  be  a 

212 


ENLARGEMENT  OF  OPPORTUNITY     213 

numberer  of  strokes,  so  much  work  for  so  much  pay, 
like  the  workman  who  drops  his  uplifted  hammer  at  the 
first  sound  of  the  quitting  bell. 

It  is  so  in  any  great  and  effectual  preaching,  whether 
evangelistic  or  pastoral.  There  must  be  eagerness,  de- 
votion, heart  of  love  and  tongue  of  flame.  Perhaps  no 
more  striking  example  can  be  cited  than  that  of  the 
early  Methodist  circuit  riders.  They  went  forth,  along 
make-believe  roads  or  Indian  trails,  across  the  swollen 
streams,  into  town  or  settlement  or  lone  cabin,  in  the 
spirit  of  the  Messianic  psalm: 

"I  delight  to  do  thy  will,  0  my  God; 
Yea,  thy  law  is  within  my  heart. 
I  have  proclaimed  glad  tidings  of  righteousness  in  the  assembly," 

They  found  occasions  to  preach  or  made  them.  It  was 
not  a  new  method — not  distinctively  American  or  Wes- 
leyan.  "  Preach  the  word,"  wrote  Paul  in  his  fare- 
well charge  to  his  "  child  "  Timothy ;  "  be  instant 
in  season,  out  of  season."  Wliich  might  be  ren- 
dered, "  whether  the  time  be  opportune  or  inoppor- 
tune." 

When  Freeborn  Garretson,  a  devout  and  sweet-spirited 
practical  mystic,  was  sent  out  by  Coke  and  Asbury, 
"  like  an  arrow,  from  north  to  south," — as  Dr.  Coke  de- 
scribed it — to  send  messengers,  in  his  turn,  to  the  right 
and  left  and  call  together  all  the  preachers  to  the  unex- 
pected task  of  organizing  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
he  recorded  in  his  journal  concerning  this  suddenly  im- 
posed duty :  "  I  set  out  for  Virginia  and  Carolina,  and 
a  tedious  journey  I  had.  My  dear  Master  enabled  me 
to  ride  about  1,200  miles  in  six  weeks  [it  was  in  the 


214  VISION  AND  POWER 

months  of  N^ovember  and  December],  and  preach  going 
and  coming  constantly,"  The  "  arrow  "  seems  to  have 
turned  aside  freely  for  evangelism's  sake,  without  for- 
saking its  prescribed  course  or  failing  to  reach  the 
mark.  It  was  a  sign  of  the  apostolic  spirit  and  an 
augury  of  success.  For  many  a  congregation  was  gath- 
ered and  many  a  soul  saved  by  such  free  out-of-season 
urgency  of  convicting  and  evangelic  speech. 

n 

The  Christian  preacher  may  very  well  go  forth  "  with- 
out gainsaying,"  if  he  have  some  true  vision  not  only 
of  his  task  but  also  of  his  opportunity.  And  now,  this 
vision  of  opportunity,  how  great  may  he  expect  it  to 
appear  ?  Manifestly  as  great  as  the  world  of  spiritual 
need  to  which  he  may  minister.  Need  is  the  giver 
of  opportunity.  "  When  there  comes  a  despondent 
brother  " — thus  have  I  heard  a  wise  and  gentle  master 
speak — "  and  paints  the  present  age,  with  its  mammon- 
worship  and  worldliness  and  mad  race  for  pleasure  and 
reckless  commission  of  crime,  when  he  comes  deploring 
the  dearth  of  spirituality  in  the  Church  and  the  unbe- 
lief outside,  I  say  to  him.  Go  on,  paint  the  picture  never 
so  dark,  but  do  you  not  see  that  what  you  are  painting 
is  a  door,  that  all  the  while  you  are  painting  the  great 
and  effectual  door  of  Christian  opportunity  ?  "  Who  is 
this  that  calls  himself  a  prophet  of  God  and  has  no 
heart  to  speak  because  of  the  largeness  of  the  demand 
for  prophetic  speech?  What  sort  of  apostle  is  it  that 
abides  indoors  because  the  field  of  his  gospel  is  so  wide 
and  the  soil  thereof  so  stubborn  ?    The  greater  the  need 


ENLARGEMENT  OF  OPPORTUNITY     215 

the  greater  the  opportunity  for  the  messages  of  the 
Spirit  through  the  lips  of  the  living  man. 

As  to  the  opportunities  of  Simon  Peter,  there  was 
Pentecost,  with  its  unprecedented  baptism  of  fire  within 
and  its  multitude  of  wondering  hearers  "  from  every 
nation  under  heaven  "  without — the  birthday  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  may  pass  it  by,  in  this 
connection,  as  incomparable.  But  here  at  Caesarea,  in 
a  private  house,  with  a  congregation  made  up  of  the 
household  and  near-by  friends,  we  may  recognize  an- 
other opportunity  of  world-wide  significance.  No  won- 
der that  so  large  a  space  comparatively  should  have 
been  given  it  in  the  book  of  Acts.  For  the  question 
of  the  admission  of  Gentile  believers  into  the  Church 
of  God  without  the  Jewish  initiatory  rite  was  settled 
at  Caesarea  with  the  sign  and  seal  of  the  Spirit  of 
truth.     And  this  was  indeed  a  world-question. 

Think  also  what  might  have  been  expected  from  Cor- 
nelius the  Christian,  as  a  captain  in  the  Italian  cohort 
(enlisted  in  Italy)  of  the  Roman  army  of  occupation, 
and  from  his  household  and  friends.  Such  witnesses 
as  Roman  soldiers,  women,  and  slaves  would  ere  long 
appear,  in  their  respective  spheres,  from  the  land  of 
Israel  to  the  islands  of  the  West.  Indeed,  what  an 
irrefutable  procession  of  witnesses,  ever  to  multiply  its 
numbers  and  so  to  pass  down  the  coming  ages,  might 
be  starting,  under  Peter's  spoken  testimony  and  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  there  in  the  Roman  barracks 
at  Caesarea. 

That  Peter  himself  realized  the  full  significance  of 
this   visit  to   a  Gentile   soldier's   home   may   well   be 


216  VISION  AND  POWER 

doubted.  What  great  leader  in  the  world's  work  does 
realize  the  full  significance  of  his  acts  and  undertak- 
ings ?  What  lowliest  Christian  worker  in  our  own  time, 
or  in  any  other,  knows  how  great  the  end  may  be  ?  Cer- 
tainly if  any  of  us  should  be  inclined  to  covet  such 
an  opportunity  in  life  as  that  of  this  chief  Apostle, 
it  might  pertinently  be  suggested  to  him  that  he  open  his 
eyes  upon  the  world-wide  opportunity  which  he  stands 
facing  here  and  now.  Let  him  awake  to  the  realiza- 
tion that  his  own  age  is  preeminently  an  age  of  oppor- 
tunity. Have  we  not  seen  that  it  is  given  to  the  least 
of  us  to  touch  the  moral  life  of  the  world  to  finer  issues, 
both  at  our  own  doors  and  in  the  regions  far  beyond  ? 
At  our  own  doors  ?  It  might  be  said  that  the  whole 
world  is  now  becoming  an  open  door  to  us  all. 

A  far  larger  and  at  the  same  time  a  far  smaller  world 
is  ours  than  that  which  our  fathers  knew.  It  has  been 
expanded,  in  that  we  have  come  to  know  so  much  more 
about  its  territory  and  its  peoples.  It  has  been  con- 
tracted, in  that  the  interchange,  both  of  things  and 
ideas,  products  of  the  fields  and  factories  and  products 
of  the  mind,  has  become  so  facile  and  so  constant.  A 
gift  from  the  hands  at  the  present  moment  holding 
this  volume  may,  at  the  giver's  option,  fall  into  a  hand 
at  the  distance  either  of  an  arm's  length  or  of  six  thou- 
sand miles.  The  letter  you  write  may  be  mailed  for 
five  or  perhaps  two  cents  either  to  the  nearest  village 
or  to  the  antipodes.  It  has  come  to  be  almost  a  matter 
of  course  with  many  of  us  to  have  business  or  social 
or  church  relations  with  people  at  their  homes  a  thou- 
sand miles   away.      Since,   under  present  methods  of 


ENLARGEMENT  OF  OPPORTUNITY     217 

communication,  the  world  has  become  our  neighbour- 
hood, 

"What  is  half  o'  the  world  between?" 

Ill 

When  there  comes  to  the  soul  of  a  young  Christian 
a  vision  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  needs  of  his  own 
land,  he  is  ready  to  say,  "  Here  in  the  homeland  I  must 
invest  my  life."  When  there  comes  to  him  a  vision  of 
any  one  of  the  great  causes  that  are  here  calling  so 
loudly  for  leaders  and  helpers, — ^the  cause  of  the  young 
people,  of  the  poor  and  backward  classes,  of  civic  right- 
eousness, of  temperance  and  the  destruction  of  the  liquor 
traffic,  of  whatever  is  included  under  the  title  of  Home 
Missions — he  would  fain  respond,  "  To  this  one  cause 
shall  my  whole  life  be  devoted."  He  could  wish  not 
only  "  a  thousand  tongues  to  sing "  the  Redeemer's 
praise,  but  a  thousand  lives  to  devote  to  some  one  par- 
ticular service  in  the  Redeemer's  cause. 

As  to  our  homeland,  whose  name  has  been  called  a 
synonym  of  opportunity,  we  are  constrained  to  ask, 
What  does  God  in  history  mean  by  America?  Our 
teachers  of  history  are  able  to  show  how  this  or  that 
nation,  notwithstanding  its  many  failures  and  crimes, 
has  made  some  one  most  conspicuous  contribution  to 
the  welfare  of  the  world.  May  we  suppose  that  Amer- 
ica will  ever  have  such  a  contribution  to  offer  ? 

Some  have  answered  that  it  is  her  providential  mis- 
sion to  exemplify,  as  this  has  never  yet  been  done, 
the  splendid  ideal  of  human  brotherhood.  It  may  be 
so.     At  any  rate,  it  would  seem  that  here  is  America's 


218  VISION  AND  POWER 

most  noteworthy  opportunity.  A  nation  of  immigrants, 
scores  of  millions  on  the  way  to  become  hundreds  of 
millions  of  various  races  gathered  and  mingling  to- 
gether under  democratic  ideas  and  forms  of  govern- 
ment, 

"  Tongues  melt  in  hers,  hereditary  foemen 

Forget  their  sword  and  slogan,  kith  and  clan; 
'Twas  glory  once  to  be  a  Roman, 

She  makes  it  glory  now  to  be  a  man." 

A  country  of  enormous  undeveloped  resources,  men 
increasingly  valued  for  what  they  are  rather  than  for 
whence  they  came,  a  greater  inheritance  than  any  other 
nation  from  the  past  and  yet  without  the  embarrassment 
of  age-long  traditions,  the  wide  diffusion  of  intelli- 
gence, free  churches  awaking  more  fully  to  the  prac- 
tical acknowledgment  of  their  social  and  civil  obliga- 
tions, "  a  rapidly  decreasing  death  rate  of  bigotry," 
the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  Man  preached  everywhere — 
these  are  some  of  the  promiseful  features  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  Do  they  not  promise  that  more  and 
more  our  people  shall  respect  each  other's  humanity, 
legislate  for  the  common  good,  render  social  service, 
administer  industrial  justice,  love  as  brethren? 

Not  only  so.  According  to  its  Maker's  idea,  the 
world  may  be  and  ought  to  be  a  fraternity  of  nations. 
Hitherto,  however,  the  fact  has  been  far  different.  The 
stronger  instead  of  helping  the  weaker  have  exploited 
and  oppressed  them.  Of  Christian  as  of  pagan  nations, 
this  has  been  too  true.  But  in  recent  history  there  have 
been  signs  of  better  things.  In  certain  notable  in- 
stances, at  least,  America  has  shown  herself  a  friend 
in  need  to  other  peoples.     A  true  American,  says  a 


ENLARGEMENT  OF  OPPORTUNITY     219 

recent  Jewish  immigrant,  Mary  Antin,  is  "  one  who  ac- 
knowledges all  mankind  as  his  brothers  and  tries  to 
give  them  a  fair  chance."  Certainly  nothing  less  than 
the  realization  of  such  an  ideal  can  satisfy  the  demands 
of  human  brotherhood.  And  what  if  the  United  States 
of  America  should  both  be  called  and  prove  faithful 
to  a  moral  leadership  in  promoting  the  federation  of 
the  states  of  the  world  ? 

If  it  is  to  be  so,  there  must  needs  be,  first  of  all, 
for  America  herself  men  of  light  and  leadership.  There 
must  be  spiritual  vision. 

What  made  the  little  nation  of  Israel  such  a  one 
as  God  could  use  as  he  did  for  the  highest  welfare 
of  the  world?  It  may  be  truly  answered  in  familiar 
language,  "  Moses  and  the  prophets."  Egypt,  out  of 
which  the  tribes  were  led  that  they  might  become  a 
nation,  was  a  land  of  groveling  superstitions  and  low 
ideals;  and  Israel  was  in  slavery  to  these  as  well  as 
to  the  Pharaoh  himself.  But  Moses  was  not.  Here  was 
a  leader  with  the  vision  of  God  and  of  a  people  who 
should  accept  the  will  of  God  as  the  law  of  their  national 
life,  a  kingdom  of  priests,  a  holy  nation,  a  church.  Now 
and  for  centuries  they  were  prone  to  low-minded  idola- 
try. At  the  very  foot  of  Sinai  they  were  dancing  unto 
Jehovah  round  a  golden  calf.  But  their  great  and 
inspired  leader  and  the  succession  of  prophets  that  came 
after  him  declared,  passionately  yet  patiently,  the  real- 
ity, the  presence,  the  holiness  of  God  and  his  purpose 
for  them,  and  through  them  for  the  other  nations.  This 
was  their  salvation.  This  was  their  equipment  for  serv- 
ice.   This  was  the  means  whereby,  notwithstanding  the 


220  VISION  AND  POWER 

tremendous  obstacles  in  the  way,  it  became  possible, 
at  the  very  beginning  of  their  national  history,  that 
there  should  go  forth  from  them  a  light  to  lighten  the 
peoples  of  earth  unto  the  end  of  time. 

And  "  the  prophets,"  who  were  they  ?  Men  who  saw 
with  singular  brightness  of  vision  what  a  people  should 
be,  because  they  saw  what  God  is  and  what  he  means 
the  individual  soul  to  be.  They  had  understanding  of 
judgment,  of  righteousness,  of  loving-kindness — its 
transcendent  excellence  and  its  effects.  They  saw  from 
the  highest  height  of  prevision  the  Christ  and  the  effu- 
sion of  the  Spirit  upon  all  flesh.  At  times  they  felt 
the  thrill  of  the  foreordained  Cross,  even  of  that  Divine 
suffering  love  in  which  the  Christ  was  to  take  unto 
himself  the  bitter  griefs  of  his  people  and  bear  the 
iniquities  of  them  all.  Not  the  priests,  nor  the  kings, 
nor  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people,  but  their  in- 
spired leaders  dreamt  the  dream  and  saw  the  vision ;  and 
the  others  might,  if  like-minded,  share  it  with  them. 

They  saw  the  Christ,  with  the  government  of  the 
world  on  his  shoulders,  as  the  Prince  of  Peace.  Did  the 
times  foreshow  it  ?  or,  did  some  Eastern  sage  some- 
how drop  the  suggestive  word  into  their  ear?  Quite 
the  opposite.  That  was  far  enough  from  a  day  of  peace 
in  which  they  prophesied.  War  was  universally  ac- 
cepted as  the  natural  condition  of  man.  Nation  against 
nation,  people  against  people — nothing  else  was  known 
or  expected.  But  even  in  that  day  there  were  seers  of 
Israel,  taught  of  God  as  no  other  religious  teachers  on 
earth,  to  whom  it  was  given  to  depict  a  new  and  Divine 
order  of  national  life.     In  an  age  of  the  unchallenged 


ENLARGEMENT  OF  OPPORTUNITY     221 

sword,  it  was  given  them  to  foresee  the  reign  of  peace 
not  only  within  their  own  elect  little  land,  but  between 
nation  and  nation,  the  world  over. 

From  Isaiah  and  from  Micah  there  has  come  down 
even  to  our  time  the  record  of  it :  "  And  He  will  judge 
between  the  nations  and  will  decide  concerning  many 
peoples;  and  they  shall  beat  their  swords  into  plough- 
shares and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks ;  nations  shall 
not  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn 
war  any  more." 

But  what  does  America,  two  and  a  half  thousand 
years  thereafter,  care  for  such  a  vision?  Is  she  not 
increasing  rather  than  disarming  her  armies?  What 
does  any  nation  care?  Have  not  men  been  recently 
shedding  their  brothers'  blood  in  warfare  as  freely  as 
ever  ?  What  does  Christendom  care  ?  Instead  of  lift- 
ing off  her  peoples  the  already  depressive  burden  of 
armament,  has  she  not  been  enormously  increasing  it, 
to  fling  her  vast  armies  now  into  the  deadliest  war  of 
the  whole  world's  history.  Embattled  millions  of 
"  Christian "  Europe,  on  land  and  sea,  with  engines 
of  destruction  that  laugh  to  scorn  the  weapons  of  the 
forefathers,  in  the  death-grip  of  relentless  fratricidal 
strife — is  this  a  time  for  prophets  of  world-wide  peace  ? 
It  is  such  a  time.  Our  lot  has  indeed  been  cast  in  a 
day  of  unprecedented  war.  But  it  is  also  true  that 
the  Hebrew  prophets'  vision  of  universal  peace  is  be- 
lieved to-day  as  by  no  preceding  generation.  The  im- 
perative of  that  heavenly  vision  is  coming  to  be  felt.  It 
is  a  day  of  unprecedented  appreciation  of  international 
peace.    War  must  cease,  international  disputes  must  be 


222  VISION  AND  POWER 

settled,  like  personal  disputes,  by  righteous  judgment 
and  not  by  the  shedding  of  the  disputants'  blood;  let 
truth  and  not  force,  righteousness  and  not  wholesale 
slaughter,  arbitration  and  not  the  crushing  of  the  weaker 
by  the  stronger  nation,  pronounce  judgment:  such  is 
the  voice  of  the  seers  of  the  present  movement  for 
world-wide  peace. 

They  have  told  us  the  vision  they  have  seen :  "  A 
world-order  held  together,  not  by  the  threat  of  bristling 
fortresses  or  cannon  loaded  to  belch  forth  destruction, 
but  by  the  strong  bonds  of  mutual  good-will,  an  order 
in  which  savage  and  backward  peoples  or  cruel  and 
avaricious  tyrants  are  restrained  from  murder  and 
rapine  by  a  police  force  representing  not  the  mailed 
hand  of  any  single  nation,  but  the  conscience  and  right- 
eous judgment  of  world-federation."  And  it  is  fitting 
that  on  their  splendid  Peace  Palace  at  The  Hague  should 
be  inscribed  that  word  of  the  Lord  by  the  mouth  of 
his  ancient  prophets :  "  They  shall  beat  their  swords  into 
ploughshares  and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks."  It 
foretells  the  doom  of  war. 

For  the  reign  of  the  warmakers  is  not  to  be  per- 
petuated. The  recurrent  madness  and  wickedness  will 
spend  itself ;  it  will  turn  again  to  their  overthrow.  Men 
will  look  upon  the  multiplied  fields  of  human  slaughter 
with  more  enlightened  vision  and  more  condemnatory 
judgment.  Out  of  the  horror  of  blood  and  tears  shall 
come,  under  the  reign  of  the  living  and  loving  God, 
the  peacemakers'  day,  who  shall  be  called  the  children 
of  God.  Instead  of  organized  carnage,  world-peace  alli- 
ances and  organizations.    Instead  of  the  heroism  enkin- 


ENLARGEMENT  OF  OPPORTUNITY     223 

died  by  war,  the  higher  moral  heroism  of  devotion  to 
the  higher  life  of  the  world.  "  There  is  a  new  king- 
dom," says  Edward  A.  Steiner,  confessing  his  faith 
in  the  coming  unity  of  mankind,  "  a  new  kingdom 
within  the  old.  It  cannot  be  destroyed.  It  has  a  new 
language — the  language  of  the  spirit;  it  has  a  new 
patriotism — wider  than  nation  and  race.  It  is  now 
emerging  out  of  this  new  baptism  of  blood.  We  can 
all  hasten  its  coming  by  letting  it  come  into  our  hearts." 
May  not  the  Master's  own  word  find  even  here  a  partial 
fulfilment  ? — "  Upon  the  earth  distress  of  nations,  with 
perplexity.  .  .  .  And  when  these  things  begin  to  come 
to  pass,  then  look  up  and  lift  up  your  heads ;  for  your 
redemption   draweth  nigh." 

As  for  America,  may  the  God  of  all  peoples  merci- 
fully give  her  for  moral  leadership  men  whose  love  for 
their  country  shall  be  illumined  with  the  vision  of  his 
own  idea  of  a  nation  and  his  own  eternal  purpose  of 
righteous  brotherhood. 

For  if  the  fraternity  of  nations  shall  be  in  any  large 
sense  America's  achievement,  it  will  be  in  the  most  real 
sense  an  achievement  of  Christ  and  the  gospel.  "  He 
will  judge  between  the  nations."  And  as  matter  of  fact 
the  clear-sighted  Christian  preacher  and  teacher,  illus- 
trating in  his  life  the  truth  on  his  lips,  is  in  the  fore- 
front of  the  personal  forces  making  for  this  and  for 
every  form  of  helpful  human  fraternity. 

If,  on  the  contrary,  one  should  be  reminded  that  in 
the  Church  as  it  exists  among  us,  denominationally 
divided,  unbrotherly  rivalry  is  sometimes  more  in  evi- 
dence than  brotherly  cooperation,  the  answer  is  that  by 


224»  VISION  AND  POWER 

the  grace  of  God  the  movement  in  the  churches  is  now 
toward  oneness  of  emphasis  in  teaching  and  fraternity 
in  conduct.  It  has  been  said  that  "  while  the  force 
of  Christianity  has  been  separating  itself  into  forces, 
the  forces  of  evil  have  been  uniting  into  a  combined 
force/'  But  whatever  of  truth  there  may  have  been  in 
such  an  indictment,  the  churches  are  now  moving  to- 
ward a  unification  of  their  forces  in  the  name  of  the 
one  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Their  rivalries  put  to  shame, 
they  will  be  vitally  federated  for  the  gigantic  task  be- 
fore them;  and  to  be  an  organizer  and  leader  in  that 
militant  host  is  the  vocation  and  opportunity  of  the 
Christian  preacher  of  America  to-day. 

IV 

Meanwhile  there  comes  the  call  to  the  unevangelized 
peoples.  Let  any  man  read  the  history  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  and  then,  if  he  can,  point  out  the  period 
or  the  circumstances  in  which  such  a  call  was  more 
instant  or  such  an  opportunity  more  inviting  than  at 
the  present  hour.  Changes  of  surpassing  religious  sig- 
nificance in  pagan  nations  have  been  taking  place  under 
our  very  eyes,  others  are  imminent,  still  others  will 
follow.  In  the  first  century  of  Christianity  the  West  had 
to  a  considerable  extent  outgrown  its  religions;  in  the 
twentieth  century  the  same  is  true  of  the  East.  In  the 
first  century  the  vast  extension  of  the  Roman  empire 
facilitated  the  spread  of  the  gospel ;  in  the  twentieth 
century  the  "  open  door  "  of  the  nations  does  the  same 
more  freely  and  securely.  Think,  for  instance,  of  the 
oldest  and  largest  of  the  nations,  one-fifth  of  the  whole 


ENLARGEMENT  OF  OPPORTUNITY     225 

world's  population,  arising  out  of  the  slumbrous  ex- 
clusivism  of  the  ages  as  the  Republic  of  China,  and 
welcoming  Christian  physicians,  teachers,  and  evange- 
lists to  the  towns  and  schools  and  homes  of  its  four 
hundred  million  people.  Looking  backward  no  longer 
for  her  golden  age,  she  would  feel  after  it  if  haply 
she  may  find  it  in  the  ideals  of  Christian  civilization. 
The  thoughts  of  the  hearts  of  those  multitudinous  chil- 
dren of  the  East  are  in  solution.  They  are  vigorously 
taking  form.  Shall  it  be  in  the  moulds  of  Christian 
or  non-Christian  or  anti-Christian  ideas  ? 

But  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  the  mission  of  the 
preacher,  let  it  ever  be  borne  in  mind,  is  neither  more 
nor  less  than  to  make  Christians.  By  whatever  means 
or  methods,  directly  or  indirectly,  it  is  this  that  he  must 
do.  Was  it  not  the  Master's  way,  and  that  of  his  first 
sent-ones  ?  Must  not  the  souls  for  which  the  rightful 
Lord  of  all  gave  his  life  receive  his  kingdom  one  by 
one?  Said  Alexander  MacLaren,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  presentation  of  his  portrait  to  the  city  of  Manches- 
ter :  "  My  work,  whatever  yours  may  be,  is,  and  has 
been  for  thirty-eight  years,  and  I  hope  will  be  for  a 
little  while  longer  yet,  to  preach  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
King  of  England  and  the  Lord  of  all  communities,  and 
the  Saviour  and  friend  of  the  individual  soul."  Lord  of 
the  community.  Saviour  of  the  soul — such  is  the  Christ 
of  the  Christian  pulpit. 

The  Church  is  indeed  to  redeem  institutions,  to 
purify  politics,  to  save  society,  to  make  a  new  world. 
This  must  she  do  in  England,  America,  China,  every 
land  beneath  the  sky.     But  why,  unless  it  be  to  create 


226  VISION  AND  POWER 

souls  anew  in  the  image  of  God  and  enrich  their  lives 
with  truth  and  love?  And  this  is  first  of  all  an  indi- 
vidual work.  Society  itself  is  for  the  individual — apart 
from  whom  it  cannot  exist  even  in  imagination — and  not 
the  individual  for  society.  The  preacher  with  his  gospel 
approaches  each  soul  as  distinctly  and  personally  as 
if  there  were  no  third  soul  on  earth;  and  the  outcome 
of  such  an  opportunity  is  not  simply  or  chiefly  in  time, 
but  unto  the  endless  ages. 

Therefore,  to  be  a  preacher  for  the  times  is  to  lift 
men  to  the  heights  where  they  shall  see  for  themselves 
the  vision  of  eternal  facts  and  values. 


XI 
POWEK  THROUGH  EVANGELIC  TRUTH 

That  saying  ye  yourselves  know  which  was  published 
throughout  all  Judea,  beginning  from  Galilee,  after  the 
baptism  which  John  preached;  even  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
—Acts    10:37,  38.  ,  .     x    u 

Him  God  raised  up  the  third  day  and  gave  him  to  be 
manifest,  not  to  all  the  people,  but  unto  witnesses  that 
were  chosen  before  of  God,  even  to  us,  who  ate  and 
drank  with  him  after  he  rose  from  the  dead.  And  he 
charged  us  to  preai:h  unto  the  people  and  to  testify  that 
this  is  he  who  is  ordained  of  God  to  be  the  Judge  of 
the  living  and  the  dead.  To  him  bear  all  the  prophets 
witness,  that  through  his  name  every  one  that  believeth 
on  him  shall  receive  remission  of  sins. — Acts  10 :  40-43. 

Send  to  Joppa  and  fetch  Simon,  whose  surname  is 
Peter,  who  shall  speak  unto  thee  words  whereby  thou 
Shalt  be  saved,  thou  and  all  thy  house.— Acts  11 :  13,  14. 

UNDER  the  growing  light  of  his  vision  of  world- 
wide redemption,  Peter  told  the  "  words  "  with 
which  he  had  been  entrusted — and  not  in  vain. 
There  was  a  good  congregation,  gathered  by  Cornelius — 
"having  called  together  his  kinsmen  and  his  near 
friends,"  "  many  come  together."  And  under  the  spoken 
gospel  there  fell  upon  them  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
so  that  they  spoke  with  tongues  and  magnified  God. 

Well  might  the  unsympathetic  brethren  in  Jerusalem, 
after  Peter  had  recited  the  occurrence  to  them,  feel  con- 
strained to  acknowledge,  "  Then  to  the  Gentiles  also  hath 
God  granted  repentance  unto  life."  The  baptism  of 
the  Spirit,  the  turning  from  sin  unto  the  mercy  of 
God  in  Christ,  the  repentance  that  opens  the  way  into 

227 


228  VISION  AND  POWER 

eternal  life — have  not  the  like  signs  in  all  ages  marked 
the  word  of  preaching  as  a  word  of  power  ? 

Was  spiritual  power  an  accompaniment,  then,  of  spir- 
itual vision?  It  would  seem  so.  In  fact,  the  two 
Divine  gifts  are  close  akin.    Of  this,  more  as  we  go  on. 

One  need  hardly  be  reminded  here  of  the  ultimate 
Source  of  all  power,  physical,  governmental,  spiritual, 
in  heaven  and  on  earth.  Whether  the  word  be  used  in 
the  sense  of  authority  or  of  energy,  "  there  is  no  power  but 
of  God."  "  Who  maketh  grass  to  grow  upon  the  moun- 
tains." "  Thou  [Pilate  the  governor]  wouldest  have 
no  power  against  me,  except  it  were  given  thee  from 
above."    "  Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God." 


But  there  are  two  means  or  mediums  through  which 
the  Divine  power  is  commonly  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  soul.  They  are  both  implied  in  the  familiar  phrase, 
'"'  a  preacher  of  the  gospel " ;  for  one  of  the  two  is  trufh 
(the  gospel)  and  the  other  is  personality  (the  preacher). 
Let  us  take  note  of  them  in  this  and  the  following 
chapter. 

In  a  broad  sense  of  the  term,  truth  may  be  defined, 
I  suppose,  as  -facts  and  their  meaning.  To  illustrate. 
We  see  the  sun  rise,  making  the  day,  and  having  com- 
pleted his  prescribed  course,  descend  out  of  sight, 
leaving  the  world  in  darkness.  We  notice  also  a  regular 
variation  in  the  solar  movements  throughout  the  year, 
from  the  shortest  course  of  the  winter  to  the  longest 
of  the  summer,  and  back  again.  What  does  this  simple 
and  majestic  process  mean  ?    The  eagle  from  his  cloud- 


EVANGELIC  TRUTH  829 

less  cliff  sees  it  more  distinctly  perhaps  than  any  of  us, 
and  to  him  it  has  no  meaning — and  he  no  telescope. 
But  certain  gifted  and  energetic  minds  have  thought 
their  way  not  only  to  the  telescope,  but  with  its  aid 
through  the  visible  fact  to  its  causes  and  its  various 
cosmic  relations.  And  listening  to  their  interpreta- 
tions, we  learn  that  the  rising  and  setting  sun  is  sig- 
nificant of  the  diurnal  revolution  of  the  earth,  our  own 
flight  of  over  a  million  and  a  half  miles  a  day  round 
the  sun,  the  attraction  of  gravitation — in  a  word,  of 
the  hitherto  undreamt-of  glory  of  the  heavens. 

True,  one  may  decline  to  accept  this  teaching.  Many 
contemporaries  of  Copernicus,  Martin  Luther  for  exam- 
ple, rejected  it — though,  had  they  been  born  in  the 
twentieth  century  instead  of  the  fifteenth,  the  case  would 
doubtless  have  been  different.  But  those  who  do  accept 
it,  which  to-day  means  all  the  enlightened  world,  find 
here,  in  the  fact  and  its  meaning,  a  splendid  body  of 
astronomic  truth. 

Take  an  illustration  from  a  very  different  sphere — 
from  the  inner  world  of  mind.  You  feel  a  certain 
sense  of  moral  compulsion — "  I  ought."  It  has  been 
named  "  conscience."  Its  voice  may  antagonize  other 
voices,  without  or  within,  or  may  accord  with  them; 
but  in  either  case  it  is  quite  distinct  from  them.  iNTot 
the  voice  of  self-interest — "  It  is  profitable  " ;  nor  of 
taste — "  It  is  beautiful  " ;  nor  of  utility — "  It  is  use- 
ful " ;  nor  of  physical  compulsion — "  I  have  to  " ;  it  is 
the  voice  of  moral  obligation — "  I  am  obligated,  it  is 
due/' 

Such  is  the  simple  and  sublime  moral  fact,  the  vision 


230  VISION  AND  POWER 

of  duty.  And  being  interpreted,  it  is  seen  to  signify  that 
man  belongs  to  a  moral  order.  Which  is  to  say  that 
he  has  power  of  choice,  that  he  is  a  person,  that  he 
is  under  moral  government.  It  tells  of  freedom  and 
responsibility — the  daily  miracle  of  self-determination 
amid  contrary  influences.  It  draws  aside  the  veil  of 
an  invisible  realm  and  brotherhood  of  souls;  it  bears 
witness  of  God.  Thus  by  the  fact  of  conscience  and 
its  interpretation,  the  eyes  of  the  soul  are  opened  to 
the  reality  and  greatness  of  the  moral  universe. 

Or,  here  is  a  historian.  He  knows  the  heart  of  man. 
He  can  trace  the  course  of  the  human  world  through 
generations  and  millenniums — how  the  earth  was  peo- 
pled, the  migration  of  tribes,' the  rise  and  fall  of  nations, 
the  old  order  giving  place  to  the  new,  each  subsequent 
age  lying  germed  in  that  which  went  before,  and  thus 
the  present  significant  and  predictive  of  the  future. 
IsTot,  of  course,  that  he  sees  the  whole  world-wide  and 
age-long  movement.  But  in  the  little  that  he  does  see 
he  can  read  off  something  of  the  wavering  march  of 
humanity,  in  its  freedom  of  will,  with  its  intellectual 
achievements,  under  its  awfulness  of  sin  and  suffer- 
ing, toward  the  goal  of  its  earthly  history.  And  be- 
yond question  this  grand  conception  of  historical  truth 
was  reached  through  a  close,  sympathetic  view  and 
review  of  the  human  facts. 

Or  again,  the  philosopher  may  be  summoned  as  a 
witness.  He  is  interested  in  the  perception  of  ulti- 
mate truth.  To  him  nothing  else  seems  so  great  and 
worthy.  Your  physical  order  and  human  history,  upon 
what  do  they  all  rest  as  their  deepest  reason?  what  is 


EVANGELIC  TRUTH  231 

reality?  That  is  the  question  he  is  ever  asking.  Nor 
does  it  go  without  an  answer.  Philosophy  is  an  inter- 
pretation as  truly  as  science  or  history.  And  its  method 
is  essentially  the  same.  It  is  the  things  and  events  of 
the  outer  world,  as  made  known  through  the  senses, 
together  with  the  acts  and  experiences  of  the  soul  itself, 
as  made  known  simply  through  consciousness,  that  sug- 
gest and  make  possible  of  apprehension  the  underlying 
principles  of  truth.  Such  truths  are  indeed  seen  in- 
tuitively by  the  reason,  but  they  are  suggested  and 
demanded  by  the  body  of  attentively  considered  inner 
and  outer  facts. 

So,  speaking  generally,  while  on  the  one  hand  "  facts 
without  ideas  are  meaningless,"  on  the  other  "  ideas 
without  facts  "  are  empty.  The  two  taken  together  con- 
stitute truth. 

And  now  the  same  thing  may  be  said  specifically  with 
respect  to  evangelic  truth.  The  gospel  is  a  succession 
of  facts  and  their  interpretation.  For  just  as  God 
"  made  known  his  ways  unto  Moses,  his  doings  unto 
the  children  of  Israel,"  that  they  might  be  stirred  up 
to  consider,  and  to  enter  thus  into  a  knowledge  of  him- 
self, so  has  he  made  knovm  his  ways  and  his  doings 
in  Jesus.  Lo,  here  is  Christianity — a  revelation,  the 
supreme  Divine  revelation,  in  human  history.  It  is  not 
given  in  nature  or  in  mind;  it  is  given  in  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  the  Son  of  Man.  To  know  him,  not  simply 
according  to  the  flesh,  but  as  revealed  by  the  Spirit, 
is  to  see  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is  to  know,  as  far 
as  it  has  been  given  men  on  earth  to  know,  "  what  God 
and  man  is." 


233  VISION  AND  POWER 

Evangelic  truth,  then,  is  the  interpreted  fact  of  a 
Person — the  fact  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  the  inter- 
pretation thereof.  Tell  who  he  was,  show  what  he  did, 
set  forth  its  meaning,  and  you  have  declared  the  gospel 
of  Christianity. 

II 

This,  therefore,  as  might  have  been  expected,  was 
Peter's  evangel  to  the  Caesareans.  He  calls  it  the  word 
which  God  "  sent  unto  the  children  of  Israel  " — unto 
them,  first  of  all — and  announces  that  that  word,  or 
"  saying,"  was  concerning  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  told 
about  Jesus — his  doing  good,  his  healing  of  them  that 
were  oppressed  of  the  devil,  his  death  on  the  cross, 
his  resurrection  and  reappearance  before  chosen  wit- 
nesses, his  charge  to  the  Apostles  that  they  go  forth  as 
witness-bearers  and  preach  him. 

Also,  together  with  the  recital  of  facts,  the  preacher 
gave  words  of  interpretation.  Jesus,  he  said,  was 
anointed  of  God  with  the  Holy  Spirit  and  with  power ; 
he  is  the  fulfiller  of  the  prophetic  Scriptures,  the  judge 
of  man,  the  Lord  of  all,  the  Saviour  through  whose 
'"  name  every  one  that  believeth  on  him  shall  receive 
remission  of  sins." 

Such  was  the  early  apostolic  gospel — as  illustrated 
by  its  first  preacher.  There  were  announced  certain  his- 
toric facts  and  what  they  mean.  There  was  repeated, 
over  and  over  again,  one  great  inclusive  Fact  and  its 
interpretation.  That  is  the  truth  as  truth  is  in  Jesus. 
It  so  appears,  beyond  a  doubt,  in  all  the  preaching  that 
is  narrated  or  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament. 


EVANGELIC  TRUTH 

Paul,  who  had  never  seen  the  face  of  Jesus  in  the 
flesh,  knew  no  other  gospel  for  Jew  or  Gentile  but  the 
interpreted  facts  of  the  Cross  and  the  Resurrection. 
"  For  I  delivered  unto  you,  first  of  all,  that  which  also 
I  received:  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according  to 
the  Scriptures,  and  that  he  was  buried,  and  that  he  hath 
been  raised  on  the  third  day  according  to  the  Scrip- 
tures." "  I  determined  not  to  know  anything  among 
you  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified."  To  the  men 
of  Athens  he  preached  "  Jesus  and  the  resurrection." 

So  throughout  the  teaching  of  the  New  Testament 
itself:  in  the  Gospels,  particularly  in  the  first  three, 
chiefly  the  facts,  in  the  following  books  chiefly  the 
interpretation.  The  vital  tie  that  binds  these  twenty- 
seven  little  books  together  into  the  priceless  volume 
we  hold  in  our  hands  to-day  is  their  common  reflec- 
tion of  the  life  of  the  once  incarnate  and  now  glorified 
Son  of  God.  Take  as  an  example  Peter's  own  further 
exposition  as  given  in  his  First  Epistle.  For  what  is 
this  whole  writing  to  his  brethren  of  the  Dispersion, 
from  its  opening  doxology,  "  Blessed  be  the  God  and 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  to  the  closing  bene- 
diction, "  Peace  be  unto  you  all  that  are  in  Christ," 
but  a  setting  forth  of  the  significance  of  Jesus  Christ 
in  the  beliefs,  the  experiences,  the  spirit,  the  daily  con- 
duct of  Christian  believers  ? 

The  historic  and  the  spiritual  reality  of  Jesus — no 
other  truth  is  at  once  so  human  and  so  Divine.  To 
make  a  life-study  of  the  Divine  Man,  as  set  forth  in 
the  pages  of  the  'Ne'w  Testament,  as  transcendent  in 
influence  upon  the  Christian  ages,  as  sharing  with  the 


234  VISION  AND  POWER 

individual  soul  that  trusts  him  the  knowledge  and  love 
of  God  unto  eternal  life — to  know  him  and  at  the  same 
time  to  make  him  known  through  living  speech  to  who- 
soever will  hear,  such  is  the  vocation  of  the  Christian 
preacher.  Nor  is  there  any  other  truth  that  the  people 
of  the  present  age  and  of  all  other  ages  so  need  to  know, 
and  to  believe  with  heart  and  life,  as  this  truth  of  the 
Universal  Man,  the  Master  and  Saviour  and  Sovereign 
of  the  soul. 

"  The  word  which  he  sent  unto  the  children  of  Israel 
.  .  .  even  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  "  Unto  "  them  but  for 
mankind.  It  was  a  word  for  Csesarea,  for  Rome,  for 
all  the  world;  it  was  the  word  for  all  the  world.  So 
Jesus  himself  taught.  So  his  first  confessing  disciple 
was  learning.  So  his  disciples  are  learning  still — and 
should  have  learned  sooner  and  more  obediently. 

That  word  which  is  Jesus  Christ,  ought  it  not  to 
have  been  borne  ere  now,  by  those  who  have  received 
it,  to  every  kindred  and  people  on  earth  ?  "  You  are 
angry,"  said  a  negro  fellow-traveller  to  Dan  Crawford, 
at  the  end  of  a  fifteen  miles'  trek  in  the  tall  grass  of 
Central  Africa.  "  Why  do  you  say  so  ?  "  "  Because 
you  are  silent,"  was  the  reply.  "  Tell  me  more  about 
it."  "  In  our  language,"  answered  the  black  man,  "  we 
say  that  if  a  man  is  silent  he  is  angry.  This  is  why 
we  know  that  God  is  angry — because  he  is  silent." 
"  God  is  silent."  The  intrepid  Christian  missionary 
was  cut  to  the  heart.  He  opened  his  pocket  Testament 
and  read  to  the  man  the  first  verse  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews.  Much  more,  he  went  to  work  at  translat- 
ing the  New  Testament  into  the  language  of  his  Central 


EVANGELIC  TRUTH  235 

African  brother,  and  at  building  school-houses  in  which 
the  people  might  be  taught  to  read  the  word  which  God 
had  spoken  in  Jesus  Christ  nearly  two  thousand  years 
before. 

God  was  not  silent.  But  the  messengers  to  whom 
he  had  committed  his  Good  News  had  been  slow  to 
tell  it,  as  he  had  bidden  them,  unto  the  ends  of  the 
earth. 

Ill 

"  People  need  this  evangel  indeed,  but  do  they  wish 
it?  does  the  heart  of  man  naturally  desire  evangelic 
truth  ?  "  It  is  a  pertinent  question,  and  may  fitly  be 
considered  as  part  of  the  larger  question,  whether  men 
have  an  instinctive  desire  to  know  any  order  of  facts 
and  their  meaning.  May  man  as  man  be  characterized 
as  a  lover  of  truth?  But  concerning  this  larger  ques- 
tion there  is  hardly  room  for  doubt. 

Ask  the  school-houses,  the  teachers,  the  ceaseless  flood 
of  books  and  periodicals,  the  scientific  laboratories,  the 
world-wide  and  continuous  questioning  of  the  Unknown. 
All  these  tell  the  story  of  the  mind's  hunger  for  knowl- 
edge as  truly  as  the  harvest-fields  and  orchards  and 
mill-wheels  and  bake-ovens  and  three  meals  a  day  tell 
the  story  of  the  body's  hunger  for  bread. 

Ask  those  truth-enamoured  "  wizards  of  the  spade," 
the  archaeologists.  See  them  in  their  isolation,  at  work 
decade  after  decade  in  the  long-buried  cities  under  the 
sands  of  the  East.  Hear  their  word  concerning  pre- 
historic man  as  an  artificer,  an  artist,  a  knower,  a 
thinker.     Ask  the  devotee  of  scholarship  or  science  or 


286  VISION  AND  POWER 

philosophy,  who  is  more  than  willing  to  spend  his  days 
in  lonely  unrequited  toil  for  the  joy  of  finding  fact 
and  truth — standing  "  at  the  extreme  of  the  known  and 
wrestling  with  nature  for  more  of  her  unknown." 

Little  Rene  Descartes,  because  of  his  eagerness  in 
asking  questions  and  his  aptness  to  learn,  was  called, 
in  the  eighth  year  of  his  age,  the  Young  Philosopher. 
When  a  young  man  he  formed  the  resolution  "  that  he 
would  make  the  search  after  truth  the  business  of  his 
life."  And  now  for  three  hundred  years  Descartes  has 
been  named  by  common  consent  the  father  of  modem 
philosophy.  Is  such  a  mind  unhuman,  abnormal,  a  sport 
of  nature  ?  On  the  contrary,  is  it  not  altogether  human 
and  normal,  only  an  extraordinary  example  of  that  in- 
stinct to  know  which  is  common  to  us  all?  Look  for 
answer  into  the  wondering  eyes  of  any  little  child. 

Or,  read  the  story  of  the  first  sin :  "  And  when  the 
woman  saw  .  .  .  that  the  tree  was  to  be  desired  to 
make  one  wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof  and  did 
eat."  Or,  simply  look  within  and  find  there  the  in- 
stinct to  know  asserting  itself  among  the  primal  impulses 
that  make  us  men. 

One  had  as  well  ask  whether  there  be  a  universal 
motive  to  look  and  see  as  to  ask  whether  there  be  a 
universal  motive  to  enquire  and  know. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  should  be  reminded  of 
how  many  people  seem  fairly  well  contented  with  igno- 
rance, of  the  child's  proverbial  dislike  of  the  school- 
room, of  the  difficulty  in  inducing  people  really  to 
think,  of  the  predominance  of  the  novel  over  all  other 
forms  of  popular  literature,  of  the  readiness  with  which 


EVANGELIC  TRUTH  237 

all  sorts  of  fancies  and  fictions  are  caught  up  as  if 
they  were  true  and  worth  while,  would  it  follow  that 
one  must  disbelieve  in  the  innate  love  of  knowledge 
and  truth?  No  more  than  that  because  of  prevalent 
thriftlessness  and  waste,  one  must  disbelieve  in  the 
love  of  property;  or  that  because  of  cruelty,  lust,  un- 
kindness,  and  war,  one  must  disbelieve  in  the  social 
instinct;  or  that  because  of  suicides  and  the  everyday 
recklessness  of  health,  one  must  disbelieve  in  the  love 
of  life. 

It  is  not  a  question  as  to  whether  the  hunger  of  the 
soul  for  facts  and  their  meaning  has  an  unhindered 
development — no  weakness,  no  perversions,  no  antag- 
onisms. It  is  a  question  as  to  the  simple  existence  of 
such  a  hunger.  And  to  this  question  the  only  answer 
is  that  man  is  a  being  of  insatiable  curiosity. 

All  this  being  admitted,  one  might  suppose  that  man 
would  be  especially  inclined  to  welcome  any  religious 
knowledge  that  might  be  offered  him.  For  certainly 
his  higher  nature  would  need  to  have  but  little  develop- 
ment to  make  him  feel  that  such  knowledge  is  the  most 
interesting  and  significant  of  all.  The  tantalizing  mys- 
teries of  birth,  death,  the  supernatural,  who  shall  re- 
solve them?  The  indefinable  inward  answer  to  the 
call  of  the  Infinite,  what  does  it  mean  ?  The  Power  or 
the  powers  above,  what  is  their  will  concerning  me  ? 
For,  such  Power  or  powers,  says  the  heart  of  man  every- 
where, there  must  be,  attracting  even  when  they  appal. 
What,  then,  is  their  will,  and  how  shall  I  relate  myself 
to  them? 

We   might   expect   some  satisfying  answer  to   such 


238  VISION  AND  POWER 

questions  to  be  universally  sought  after.  And,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  so  it  has  been.  The  proof  is  in  the 
religious  history  of  the  world. 

IV 

Souls  do  want  to  know  about  things  Divine  and  eter- 
nal, and  their  o"\vn  personal  relations  thereto.  "  As 
imperatively  as  a  man's  lungs  call  for  air  his  human 
calls  for  a  Divine."  Let  the  preacher  come,  therefore, 
proclaiming  the  substance  of  the  Christian  message — 
the  facts  of  redemption,  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  reve- 
lation of  the  Eternal  Father  in  Jesus — and  we  should 
expect  him  to  get  a  hearing.  Is  not  this  message  truly 
called  an  evangel,  "  good  tidings  of  the  kingdom  of 
God "  ?  Yes,  indeed ;  and  it  has  been  so  welcomed 
from  the  beginning  until  now. 

But  not  universally.  For  here  again  about  the  "  open 
door "  are  "  many  adversaries."  Did  not  Jesus  an- 
nounce in  the  synagogue  of  Nazareth,  concerning 
Isaiah's  prophecy  of  "  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord," 
the  Year  of  God's  Jubilee,  that  the  prophecy  had  come 
true  then  and  there — "  This  day  hath  this  Scripture  been 
fulfilled  in  your  ears  "  ?  Did  not  his  hearers  bear  him 
witness  and  wonder  "  at  the  words  of  grace  that  pro- 
ceeded out  of  his  mouth  "  ?  And  yet  it  was  this  very 
synagogue  that  rose  up  in  wrath  against  him  and  would 
even  have  cast  him  down  to  death. 

Minister  this  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God,  in  its  na- 
tive simplicity  and  truth,  to  any  community  beneath 
the  sky,  and  you  may  confidently  expect  the  response 
of  listening  souls.    But  let  not  your  faith  fail  if  many 


EVANGELIC  TRUTH  S39 

should  seem  to  have  no  ears  to  hear.  For  people  are 
not  simply  human;  they  are  sinners.  The  pressure  of 
the  outside  world  with  its  pleasures  and  its  business 
may  benumb  their  spiritual  senses.  The  soul  may  be 
enfleshed.  It  may  be  withering  under  the  blight  of 
worldliness.  It  may  be  consumed  with  selfish  schemes 
and  ambitions.  The  power  to  hear  the  word  of  God 
may  be  atrophied  through  neglect  or  beaten  down  by 
abuse.  And  to  all  these  forces  of  moral  evil  the  word 
of  Christian  preaching  is  utterly  oppugnant.  It  would 
destroy  the  prevalent  and  destructive  sins  of  the  soul 
and  enthrone  the  living  Christ  as  Lord.  It  must  make 
its  way  against  them.    Hence  resistance  and  conflict. 

Accordingly  the  word  of  God  is  compared  in  the 
Xew  Testament  to  both  seed  and  a  sword.  The  two 
things  are  very  unlike.  A  seed  is  informed  with  a 
spirit  and  law  of  life.  It  grows,  impelled  by  a  vital 
power  within.  And  such  is  the  gospel,  that  "  seed  " 
which  "  is  the  word  of  God,"  in  the  soul — creative  of 
spiritual  life,  growth,  fruitfulness.  A  sword,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  unliving  and  destructive.  It  has  nothing 
but  death  to  give.  It  strikes  down  and  destroys.  But 
such  is  the  gospel  in  another  mode  of  its  action  in 
the  soul — "  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word 
of  God."  It  is  destructive  of  evil.  It  is  "  sharper  than 
any  two-edged  sword  "  against  not  indeed  the  human 
but  the  sinful  self.  It  would  strike  down  "  every  high 
thing  that  is  exalted  against  the  knowledge  of  God." 

"  Lord,  shall  we  smite  with  the  sword  ?  "  Yes,  un- 
sparingly, with  the  sword  of  truth  by  the  power  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  hand  of  inexorable  love. 


240  VISION  AND  POWER 


Here  we  touch  the  heart  of  our  topic:  namely,  the 
distinctive  power  of  evangelic  truth  in  the  soul.  For 
it  is  this  truth  that  does  somehow  show  itself  to  be, 
as  no  other  has  ever  done,  a  word  of  power.  As  no 
other  it  appears  as  both  sword  and  seed,  slaying  the 
evil,  producing  the  good. 

How  can  these  things  be  ?  Evidently  there  are  some 
kinds  of  truth  that  do  not  affect  one's  moral  and  spir- 
itual character  at  all.  Directly  at  least  they  lead  to 
no  moral  act  and  make  no  change  in  the  attitude  of 
the  will.  They  give  rise  to  no  moral  motives.  To  know, 
for  example,  any  proposition  of  plane  geometry  is  not 
adapted  to  make  the  knower  either  a  better  man  or 
a  worse;  and  the  same  thing  is  true  of  pure  mathe- 
matics generally,  from  the  simplest  to  the  most  abstruse 
of  its  demonstrations.  It  does  not  so  energize  in  the 
mind  as  to  make  the  liar  truthful,  or  the  vindictive 
sweet-spirited,  or  the  miserable  blessed. 

In  like  manner,  one  might  spend  a  lifetime  in  the 
various  and  interesting  fields  opened  up  by  natural 
science,  without  coming  upon  any  group  of  facts  or 
truths  that  are  likely,  by  direct  action,  to  stimulate  the 
will  and  guide  the  conscience,  or  to  renew  the  heart, 
or  to  create  the  spirit  of  the  sacrificial  life.  So  with 
mechanics,  so  with  much  of  the  teaching  of  the  schools. 
So  for  the  most  part  with  the  knowledge  of  trades  and 
professions. 

Powerful  beyond  all  appreciation  is  the  mechanical 


EVANGEIJC  TRUTH  241 

and  other  inventive  knowledge  that  has  made  our  mate- 
rial civilization.  A  great  English  economist  has  asserted 
that  one  new  idea,  such  as  Bessemer's  process  of  pro- 
ducing steel,  "  adds  as  much  to  England's  productive 
power  as  the  labour  of  a  hundred  thousand  men."  How 
much  muscular  energy  would  you  set  over  against  Cyrus 
Hall  McCormick's  idea  of  cutting  wheat,  or  the  idea  of 
the  present-day  printing-press?  Think  of  the  enor- 
mous effects  produced  in  the  life  of  the  world  by  the 
realized  truths  of  the  great  discoverers  and  inventors. 
Eor  the  steam-engine,  the  ocean  cable,  the  telephone, 
and  chloroform  and  vaccination  and  the  antitoxins  and 
the  beneficent  wonders  of  recent  surgery  and  the  thou- 
sand machines  and  instruments  and  crafts  and  remedies 
that  are  so  ceaselessly  ministering  to  the  human  welfare 
of  our  time — what  are  they  all  but  knowledge,  truths, 
ideas,  moulding  for  themselves  material  bodies?  The 
sphere  of  all  such  ideas,  however,  is  limited,  and  it  is 
not  the  highest.  They  do  not  touch  the  moral  and  spir- 
itual. They  are  makers  of  machines  and  medicines,  for 
which  the  whole  world  is  their  debtor;  but  they  are 
not  makers  of  character.  They  do  not  effect  the  new 
birth  of  the  soul. 

But  with  certain  other  kinds  of  knowledge  the  case 
is  distinctly  different.  It  is  different,  for  instance, 
with  the  knowledge  of  one's  fellow-men  and  one's  self 
as  gained,  let  us  say,  through  history  and  biography. 
That  does  exert  a  recognizable  influence  upon  the  moral 
nature.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  the  intellect  only.  It 
brings  the  sympathetic  reader  into  such  contact  with 
the  mind  and  character  of  his  fellows  of  the  past  and 


242  VISION  AND  POWER 

the  present  as  tends  to  make  him  like  them.  For  here 
are  human  personalities  to  warn  or  inspire,  to  lead  or 
mislead.  Here  are  personal  ideals  urging  with  mystic 
voices,  Follow  me.  Here  are  morally  dynamic  ideas. 
One  rises  from  the  sympathetic  reading  of  a  great 
biography  with  a  distinct  influence  upon  one's  spirit 
to  live  a  higher  life — or,  it  may  be,  a  lower. 

Why,  for  example,  did  Plutarch  write  those  "  Lives  " 
which  have  been  read  with  interest  even  unto  our  own 
day?  He  himself  tells  us  in  one  of  them  that  it  was 
because  "  the  beauty  of  goodness  has  an  attractive  power, 
it  kindles  in  us  at  once  an  active  principle,  it  forms 
our  manners  and  influences  our  desires,  not  only  when 
represented  in  a  living  example,  but  even  in  a  historical 
description."  "  For  this  reason,"  he  says,  "  we  chose 
to  proceed  in  writing  the  lives  of  great  men." 

There  is  another  word  to  be  said  about  mathematical 
or  scientific  knowledge  and  the  like.  Let  the  mathe- 
matician ask,  "  Whose  thoughts  are  these,  whose  im- 
mutable truths  of  number  and  space,  a  few  of  which 
I  have  been  able  to  follow,  and  along  the  lines  of  which 
the  material  universe  seems  to  be  built  ?  "  and  so  let 
him  gain  a  vision  of  the  Eternal  Reason,  the  Creative 
Thinker.  Or,  similarly,  let  the  chemist  or  physicist  or 
astronomer  pass  from  proximate,  or  unreal,  causes  to 
the  Divine  Artificer,  the  one  Real  Cause.  Let  him  recog- 
nize the  Will  back  of  the  orderly  and  upward  move- 
ment going  on  through  unnumbered  centuries.  Thus 
these  men  of  science  cross  over  into  philosophy,  theism, 
theology.  And  here  they  also  come  into  contact  with 
truth  that  has  power  upon  the  heart  and  conscience. 


EVANGELIC  TRUTH  243 

For  the  knowledge  of  God  as  the  theist  knows  him  makes 
appeal  to  the  spirit  of  awe,  of  reverence,  of  worship, 
of  obedience.  It  is  such  a  heavenly  vision  as  puts  a 
certain  moral  pressure  upon  the  seer.  For  He  who 
speaks  in  it  is  the  God  who  has  already  been  speaking 
in  the  conscience. 

If,  then,  it  is  truth  concerning  our  fellows,  ourselves, 
and  God,  truth  of  humanity  and  of  Deity,  that  comes 
home  to  heart  and  conscience,  and  tends  thus  to  work 
moraf  changes  in  the  life,  what  shall  be  said  of  the 
Christian  gospel?  Here  is  the  weightiest  of  all  truth 
concerning  our  fellow-men,  ourselves,  and  God.  What 
might  we  suppose  it  to  be  as  an  influence  upon  the 
heart  and  will  of  them  that  receive  it?  It  must  be 
and  is  what  the  New  Testament  declares  it  to  be,  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation.  "  Send  to  Joppa  and 
fetch  Simon,  whose  surname  is  Peter,  who  shall  speak 
unto  thee  words  whereby  thou  shalt  be  saved,  thou 
and  all  thy  house."  It  is  the  word  of  judgment  and  of 
pardon.  It  is  the  word  of  life  through  death,  even  of 
life  eternal  through  the  death  of  the  sinful  self — "  I 
live,  and  yet  no  longer  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  It 
is  formative  of  the  mind  of  Christ  in  the  recipient  soul. 
To  preach  it  effectually  is  to  offer  a  Divine-human 
answer  to  the  prayer.  Thy  kingdom  come.  As  it  fell 
from  his  own  lips  Jesus  himself  declared :  "  The  words 
that  I  have  spoken  unto  you  are  spirit  and  are  life." 

VI 

Is  Jesus,  then,  the  author  of  the  Good  News  of  God  ? 
He  is  even  more  truly,  as  already  suggested,  this  Good 


244  VISION  AND  POWER 

IN'ews  itself.  It  is  all  personalized  in  him,  the  Divine 
Sacrifice  for  the  sin  of  the  world.  At  his  cross  we 
find  God  as  Saviour.  Peter  had  already  been  bearing 
witness  of  him  in  Israel,  and  now  comes  to  declare 
to  his  Gentile  congregation  in  Csesarea  that  "  to  him 
bear  all  the  prophets  witness  that  through  his  name 
every  one  that  believeth  on  him  shall  receive  remis- 
sion of  sins."  "  To  wit,  that  God  was  in  Christ,  recon- 
ciling the  world  unto  himself,  not  reckoning  unto  them 
their  trespasses,  and  having  committed  unto  us  the 
word  of  reconciliation."  "  Thou  shalt  call  his  name 
Jesus;  for  it  is  he  that  shall  save  his  people  from 
their  sins."  Which  ISTame  is  the  reconciling  word  com- 
mitted, now  as  in  the  beginning,  to  the  preachers  of 
the  New  Covenant. 

In  him,  therefore,  as  the  Divine  Sacrifice,  is  the 
supreme  manifestation  of  the  heart  and  will  of  God. 
It  may  seem  to  us  almost  a  matter  of  course  that  men 
should  think  of  God  and  have  communion  with  him 
in  the  Christian  way — as  the  Father  of  an  infinite 
majesty  and  of  a  holy  and  tender  sacrificial  love.  But 
in  point  of  fact  it  is  far  from  being  a  matter  of  course. 
Such  filial  faith  and  knowledge  of  God  was  not  the 
faith  and  experience  even  of  Israel  before  our  Lord's 
day.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  result  of  the  one 
life  of  perfect  sonship  which  has  been  lived  in  the 
flesh — ^the  Life  whose  completion  and  deepest  mean- 
ing was  that  suffering  love  in  which  the  fatherhood  of 
God  is  most  effectually  revealed. 

"  To  us,"  says  the  Apostle  Paul,  contrasting  Chris- 
tianity and  paganism,  "  there  is  one  God,  the  Father." 


EVANGELIC  TRUTH  245 

And  the  origin  of  this  distinctive  Christian  doctrine  of 
Deity  is  contained  in  the  additional  confession  of  faith, 
"  and  one  Lord,  Jesus  Christ."  *  Our  knowledge  of 
God  as  Father  is  due  to  the  revelation  of  the  Divine 
fatherhood  in  the  Divine  Sacrifice. 

It  is  in  him,  moreover,  that  our  own  sonship  to  the 
Father  in  heaven  may  be  realized.  "  As  many  as  re- 
ceived him,  to  them  gave  he  the  right  to  become  children 
of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  his  name."  Here 
a  new  type  of  personal  goodness  came  into  human 
experience.  'Not  that  the  morally  good  in  the  Word 
made  flesh  and  in  them  that  received  him  was  absolutely 
different  from  that  which  the  Spirit  of  God  had  breathed 
already  into  human  hearts  in  Israel  and  elsewhere.  We 
may  think  of  it  more  truly  as  the  fulfilment  of  what 
had  thus  been  realized.  We  hear  its  note  in  the  new 
commandment,  which  was — that  we  love  one  another? 
That  was  the  old  commandment.  The  new  command- 
ment was  given  under  a  higher  ideal  and  with  an 
added  power  of  realization :  ''  even  as  I  have  loved  you, 
that  ye  also  love  one  another."  This  new  commandment 
is  in  fulfilment  of  the  Divine  purpose  that  we  should 
"  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son."  It  is  the 
meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ.  It  is  the  simplicity 
that  was  in  him.  It  is  the  vitally  unified  tenderness, 
strength,  aelf-poise,  sympathy,  entire  devotion  to  the 
will  of  God,  and  utter  self-sacrifice  for  the  salvation  of 
men,  that  was  illustrated  in  the  cloudless  light  of  the 
life  of  Jesus.  That  is  Christian  law.  Christian  moral- 
ity.  Christian  character.     Have  you  made  acquaint- 

*I  Corinthians  8:6. 


246  VISION  AND  POWER 

ance  with  a  personal  example  of  it?  Then  may  you 
truly  say,  "  I  know  a  man  in  Christ." 

Here,  then,  is  the  heart  of  the  Christian  message — 
it  is  the  Christ  himself.  Here  is  the  evangel  of  truth 
concerning  God  and  man — it  is  the  One  who  could  say, 
'•  I  am  the  Truth."    Whom  we  preach. 

Will  it  sufl&ce?  Any  quest  for  a  larger,  or  a  more 
personal,  or  a  more  solemn  and  inspiring,  or  a  more 
practical  and  effective  truth,  must  be  utterly  vain.  No 
other  "  tidings  of  peace,"  no  other  "  word,"  is  com- 
mensurate with  this  "  good  tidings  of  peace  by  Jesus 
Christ."  No  moral  philosophy,  from  the  earliest  to 
the  latest  written,  has  shown  any  such  motive  power. 
No  page  of  history  or  biography,  nor  any  philosophy  of 
theism,  forceful  as  these  may  be  upon  receptive  minds, 
and  certainly  not  Buddhism,  nor  Islam,  nor  the  no- 
faith  of  agnosticism,  is  to  be  accounted  of,  in  compari- 
son with  this.word,  in  regenerative  power.  It  is  creative 
of  the  new  man,  the  new  life,  the  new  age  of  righteous- 
ness and  brotherhood.  "  Salvation  in  sanctification  of 
the  Spirit  and  belief  of  the  truth." 

And  what  it  has  already  done,  with  what  it  is  now 
doing,  is  predictive  of  its  future  effects.  "  Of  His 
own  will  He  brought  us  forth  by  the  word  of  truth,  that 
we  should  be  a  kind  of  first-fruits  of  his  creatures."  The 
first-fruits  of  that  living  and  life-giving  word  now,  the 
"  harvest  of  the  world  "  ripening  in  its  season. 

VII 

Nor  need  we  suppose  there  is  any  peculiarity  in  the 
manner  in  which  this  evangelic  truth  acts  upon  the 


EVANGELIC  TRUTH  247 

soul.  We  do  it  no  honour  by  making  of  its  influence  a 
gratuitous  mystery.  Let  no  one  vaguely  say  to  him- 
self :  "  Somehow,  without  any  reference  to  the  laws 
of  the  mind,  this  gospel,  just  so  it  is  spoken  to  men,  will 
act  in  a  way  that  no  other  truth  acts,  and  thus,  we  know 
not  how,  will  bring  them  salvation,"  It  acts  in  its 
sphere,  so  far  as  we  know,  just  as  other  forms  of  per- 
suasive truth  act  in  theirs.  That  is  to  say,  it  touches 
motives  and  thus  incites  the  will  to  choice  and  action. 
The  preacher  is  not  a  rhapsodist,  but  a  persuader. 
Men  are  not  saved  by  magic.  They  are  taught ;  they 
are  convinced ;  they  are  persuaded ;  and  opening 
their  hearts  to  Christ,  they  are  saved — all  under 
the  quickening  power  of  the  Spirit  of  the  living 
God. 

But  these  Christward  motives,  what  are  they?  what 
are  the  incentives  to  action  that  urge  a  man  toward 
repentance  unto  life  and  self-committal  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  ?  or  that  press  him  on  through  the  whole 
course  of  a  Christian  life  ?  First  of  all,  let  the  preacher 
look  into  his  own  experience  for  an  answer.  For  he 
may  be  quite  sure  that  the  motives  that  have  been  influ- 
ential with  him  are  suited  in  like  manner  to  touch  and 
move  the  wills  of  many  others.  Then,  preaching  to 
himself,  as  every  preacher  must,  he  will  at  the  same 
time  be  preaching  to  his  fellows. 

But  if  he  should  also  make  enquiry  of  other  Chris- 
tians, he  would  doubtless  obtain  through  this  ques- 
tionaire  some  such  as  the  following  answers :  "  The  fear 
of  punishment,"  "  the  desire  for  happiness,"  "  the  de- 
sire for  freedom  from  condemnation,"  "  a  sense  of  un- 


248  VISION  AND  POWER 

rest  with  a  longing  for  abiding  peace  and  satisfaction," 
^'  a  sense  of  incompleteness  together  with  an  aspira- 
tion to  become  all  that  a  man  ought  to  be,"  "  a  feeling 
of  obligation  to  set  a  Christian  example  before  other 
people,"  "  an  attraction  toward  the  Christian  life  as 
that  which  every  one  ought  to  live,"  "  a  realized  need  of 
Divine  help,"  "  a  spirit  of  love  and  loyalty  toward 
Christ,"  "  the  ideal  of  doing  the  will  of  the  Father 
in  heaven  as  the  one  true  law  of  life,"  "  the  blessedness 
of  a  life  of  service  to  one's  fellow-men  in  Christ's 
name." 

Now,  two  or  more  of  these  motives  may  actuate  the 
same  person  at  the  same  time ;  for  in  no  great  and  im- 
portant undertaking  are  men  likely  to  act  under  the 
influence  of  one  motive  alone.  Again,  it  may  be  that 
in  this  or  that  hearer  none  of  them  is  actively  present. 
They  have  not  asserted  themselves.  They  may  be  lying 
dormant.  They  may  exist  only  in  the  way  of  capacity — 
potentially,  not  actually.  Nevertheless,  let  the  appeal 
to  them  be  made.  Call  upon  men,  with  the  holy  gospel 
of  God,  to  repent.  Urge  them  to  yield  their  wills  to 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Claim  them  in  the  Master's 
name  for  a  life  of  love  and  service.  And  the  poten- 
tial motive  may  be  stirred  into  actual  and  resultful 
life. 

Such,  then,  is  evangelic  truth  in  its  action  upon  the 
soul. 

Would  any  man  fain  speak  so  great  a  word  worthily  ? 
The  conditions  are  manifest.  First  and  last  and  al- 
ways, let  him  be  and  become  what  he  speaks.    By  faith. 


EVANGELIC  TRUTH  249 

experience,  practice,  let  him  make  the  evangel  of  Jesus 
his  very  own — truth  interfused  with  personality. 

Indeed,  he  cannot  even  know  this  evangel  of  Jesus, 
his  one  message  to  men,  without  thus  making  it  his 
own.  For  Jesus,  evangel,  as  we  have  seen,  is  in  its 
highest  expression  Jesus  himself;  and  to  know  him 
is  not  a  matter  of  the  hearing  of  the  ear  or  of  simple 
intellectual  perception,  but  most  truly  of  the  heart 
and  will.  It  is  a  knowledge  which  comes  through  one- 
ness with  its  object.  Only  a  living  man  can  know 
what  life  is.  Only  a  spiritually  quickened  man  can 
know  "  Christ,  who  is  our  life."  There  must  be  the 
Christian  mind,  the  Christian  purpose,  the  forming 
Christian  character. 

Let  us,  then,  give  heed  to  the  suggestion  of  power 
through  the  personality  of  the  preacher. 


xn 


POWER  THEOUGH  THE  PEESONALITY  OF 
THE  PREACHER 


And  we  are  witnesses  of  all  things  which  he  did. — 
Acts  10:  39. 

And  when  it  came  to  pass  that  Peter  entered,  Cornelius 
met  him  and  fell  down  at  his  feet  and  worshipped  him. 
But  Peter  raised  him  up,  saying.  Stand  up,  I  myself 
also  am  a  man. — Acts  10:25,  26. 

And  Peter  opened  his  mouth  and  said  .  .  . — Acts 
10:34, 


IT  is  shown  in  the  Third  Epistle  of  John — that  of 
"  the  Elder  unto  Gains  the  beloved  " — how  men  may- 
be "  fellow-workers  with  the  truth  " — namely,  by 
welcoming  to  their  homes  the  witness-bearers  of  Christ. 
But  there  is  another  way,  which  is  open  to  all  men, 
whether  it  be  their  privilege  to  practise  the  gracious 
rites  of  Christian  hospitality  or  not,  and  that  is  by 
showing  forth  the  truth  in  their  own  personal  lives. 
This  would  make  them,  in  a  larger  sense  than  that  of 
the  Elder  to  Gains  his  host,  fellow-workers  with  the 
truth;  because  it  would  be  truth  and  personality  inter- 
blending  and  working  harmoniously  together  toward  the 
same  great  end. 


Not  "  arms  and  the  man,"  nor  "  tools  and  the  man," 
but  truth  and  the  man  is  the  heroic  story  of  the  New 
Testament  and  the  Church  of  Christ.    So,  the  preacher 

250 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    251 

himself — his  spirit,  convictions,  voice,  conduct,  char- 
acter, inner  and  outer  life — as  well  as  the  truth  of 
which  he  is  the  bearer,  becomes  a  means  of  conveying 
spiritual  power  to  other  souls.  He  intermixes  with  his 
message.  Humanizing  the  truth,  he  helps  human  souls 
to  take  hold  of  it.  Like  the  rain  of  heaven,  which 
dissolves  the  substances  of  the  soil  in  such  a  way  that 
they  can  be  taken  up  by  the  rootlets  of  the  growing 
plant,  so  the  Christian  personality  of  the  preacher  en- 
ters as  a  solvent  into  his  word  of  preaching,  to  make 
it  the  more  readily  available  to  the  hearer. 

Might  not  Cornelius  have  been  told  in  vision  the 
words  whereby  he  and  his  household  should  be  saved, 
without  any  human  intermediary  ?  ISTo  doubt ;  but  it  is 
also  true  that  such  words  might  come  with  added  eifect- 
iveness  from  the  lips  of  a  fellow-man.  The  personality 
of  the  messenger  would  count  for  something. 

Eor  something?  In  the  case  before  us,  it  might  be 
expected  to  count  for  a  great  deal.  Because  Simon 
Peter's  was  no  small  or  feeble  personality,  but  sympa- 
thetic, enthusiastic,  sincere,  that  of  a  warm-hearted  and 
hopeful  believer  in  Jesus.  Was  he  not  the  foremost 
of  the  Twelve?  Is  there  not  evidence  that  he  exerted 
personal  influence  over  the  others,  so  that  they  were 
inclined  to  do  as  he  did?  When  he  averred,  with  his 
accustomed  explosive  vitality,  that  the  face  of  death 
itself  should  not  gain  from  him  a  denial  of  his  Mas- 
ter, "  likewise  also  said  all  the  disciples."  When,  hav- 
ing been  outrun  by  his  brother  disciple  John  to  the 
tomb  of  Jesus,  he  came  and  made  bold  to  enter  in, 
"  then  entered  in  therefore  the  other  disciple  also,  who 


262  VISION  AND  POWER 

came  first  to  the  tomb."  When,  some  days  thereafter, 
in  company  with  several  of  his  brethren,  he  said,  "  I 
go'  a-fishing,"  they  said,  "  We  also  come  with  thee  " ;  and 
forth  they  fared  together,  he  and  therefore  they,  to 
toil  all  night  on  the  lake.  And  unhappily,  on  the  other 
hand,  when  in  Antioch  he  withdrew  from  social  inter- 
course with  the  Gentile  Christians,  the  rest  of  the  Jews 
did  the  same,  "  so  that  even  Barnabas  was  carried 
away  with  their  dissimulation." 

Here,  then,  came  a  preacher  whose  personality  was 
by  no  means  a  negligible  quantity.  To  say  the  least, 
he  would  show  no  signs  of  effeminacy.  Not  yet  per- 
fected, his  spirit  was  nevertheless  that  of  a  genuine 
big  brother,  energetic,  buoyant,  stimulating — a  man  to 
win  a  following. 

Let  no  pulpit  be  justly  blamable  with  a  lack  of  manli- 
ness. Sympathetic  it  must  ever  be ;  mawkish  or  insipid, 
never.  Gentleness  becomes  a  man — "  the  Lord's  serv- 
ant must  not  strive  but  be  gentle  toward  all,  apt  to 
teach,  forbearing  " — but  not  softness.  Tenderness  be- 
comes him,  but  not  effusiveness.  If  there  be  a  place 
anywhere  for  soft  talk,  let  no  one  imagine  he  has  found 
it  in  the  Christian  pulpit.  Not  in  the  hymn,  nor  in  the 
prayer,  nor  in  the  sermon  is  it  called  for.  Think  of 
a  soft-talking  prophet  or  apostle — even  though,  like 
Hosea  or  Paul,  his  very  heart  be  breaking  with  sacri- 
ficial love. 

Por  young  hearers  as  well  as  older,  for  women  as  well 
as  men,  for  the  whole  many-minded  congregation,  for 
city  and  for  country,  there  is  needed,  with  all  friend- 
liness   of    fellow-feeling,  the  virile  message  and  mes- 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    253 

senger.  Because  the  effeminate  is  no  more  the  feminine 
than  is  the  blustering  the  masterful,  or  the  childish  the 
childlike. 

Nor  can  we  imagine  the  bearing  of  Simon  Peter  as 
that  of  the  mere  pulpiteer,  or  that  of  the  self-seeking 
professional  orator,  the  ecclesiastic  spellbinder;  and 
beyond  all  question  it  was  not  that  of  the  pulpit  ex- 
quisite. He  wore  no  mask,  he  took  no  actor's  part; 
it  was  his  plain  and  proper  self  that  spoke.  His  action 
was  uncalculating.  His  sentences  were  heart-beats. 
And  as  even  an  Arab  proverb  reminds  us,  while  "  the 
neck  is  bent  by  the  sword,  heart  is  bent  only  by  heart." 

Something  more.  He  was  a  man  transformed  by 
the  power  of  a  great  conviction.  In  Jesus  of  ITazareth 
he  had  found  the  Christ — "  We  have  believed  and  know 
that  thou  art  the  Holy  One  of  God."  He  had  seen  that 
Holy  One  alive  from  the  dead;  and  it  had  made  him 
a  new  man — illumined  through  new  vision,  effective 
with  new  power. 

When,  therefore,  this  spiritually  virile  brother  man 
came  promptly  in  compliance  with  the  Roman  captain's 
request,  would  not  let  him  pay  homage  at  his  feet, 
went  into  the  house  talking  with  him,  declared  his 
faith  that  in  every  nation  he  that  feared  God  and 
wrought  righteousness  was  acceptable  to  God — -when 
this  prophet  of  fire  and  force,  with  conviction  in  the 
tones  of  his  voice  and  the  light  of  vision  in  his  eyes, 
bore  personal  testimony  to  the  facts  of  the  life,  death, 
and  resurrection  of  Jesus,  we  may  well  believe  that 
together  with  the  truth  of  Christ  there  wrought  the 
personality  of  the  preacher. 


254j  vision  and  POWER 


n 

Greatest  and  most  real  of  all  known  facts  is  this  fact 
of  personality.  We  are  conscious  of  it  in  ourselves. 
At  the  same  time  we  know  by  indubitable  signs  its 
presence  in  others.  Let  the  mother  and  father  go  on 
caring  for  their  child.  Through  all  the  years  of  in- 
fancy and  of  adolescence,  let  them  freely  expend  upon 
him  whatever  treasures  of  wisdom  and  love  they  may 
have  at  command.  For  the  purposed  outcome  of  their 
nurture,  teaching,  and  discipline,  the  result  of  their 
self-denials  and  self-sacrifice,  is  a  product  valuable  be- 
yond all  estimation.  They  can  make  no  better  contri- 
bution to  the  world,  none  more  potent,  than  to  train 
and  send  forth  a  true  and  strong  personality. 

Is  it  not,  indeed,  the  product  for  which  God  him- 
self has  planned  and  wrought  from  the  beginning  of 
our  planet's  history?  What  else  has  the  creation  been 
ever  looking  forward  to,  predicting,  preparing  for? 
"  Into  whatever  region  of  thought  we  stray,"  says  Jona- 
than Brierly,  "  whether  theology,  history,  literature,  or 
art,  we  find  the  universe  spelling  out  one  word  as  its 
final  meaning.    It  exists  for  persons." 

Men  may  not  ponder  this  crowning  fact  of  person- 
ality as  they  might;  yet  it  is  none  the  less  the  very 
sun  of  their  life-system,  the  center  round  which  all 
their  interests  revolve.  It  is  that  which  chiefly  influ- 
ences them  in  others  and  by  which  they,  in  their  turn, 
chiefly  influence  others.  Because  it  is  not  simply 
what  human  beings  say  or  do,  but  what  they  are.     It 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    255 

is  not  a  look  or  word  or  act,  but  the  living  source 
of  all  such  forces,  a  subtle  and  ceaseless  personal 
power. 

That  deeply  penetrative  impact  of  soul  upon  soul 
which  is  commonly  called  the  power  of  example  might 
be  described  with  equal  truth  as  the  contagion  of  per- 
sonality. The  child  "  catches  "  rude  or  gentle  man- 
ners, refined  or  coarse  language,  true  or  false  ideas 
and  ideals,  from  his  companions,  in  a  manner  quite 
analogous  to  that  of  catching  from  them  contagious 
bodily  states. 

The  invisible  character-germs  are  in  the  moral  atmos- 
phere of  the  home,  the  school,  the  playground,  the  neigh- 
bourhood, the  church.  They  spread  increasingly  from 
soul  to  soul.  Otherwise,  why  should  we  care  what  com- 
pany those  whom  we  love,  especially  if  they  be  little 
children  or  adolescents,  are  keeping?  And  why  should 
it  have  become  proverbial  that  a  man  is  known  by  the 
company  he  keeps  ?  It  is  not  only  because  he  will  seek 
association  with  those  of  the  same  tastes  and  character 
with  himself,  but  also  because  the  association  itself 
will  tend  to  make  him  of  the  same  tastes  and  character 
with  them. 

And  that  man  is  yet  to  be  born  who  is  naturally  proof 
against  the  touch  of  other  personalities  upon  his  own. 
In  fact,  there  is  no  one  who  wishes  to  be  proof  against 
it — none  but  instinctively  craves  it  for  himself.  The 
social  nature  demands  it,  even  as  the  physical  nature 
demands  bread. 

True,  individuals  may  be  seen  here  and  there  in  the 
crowded  street  who  possess  extraordinary  personal  re- 


256  VISION  AND  POWER 

sources.  They  can  spend  much  time  enjojahly  and 
profitably,  alone.  But  where  shall  we  find  one  who 
would  live  his  whole  life  alone,  or  who,  if  he  stop  to 
think  at  all,  does  not  know  himself  to  be  incalculably 
indebted  for  the  good  he  enjoys  to  his  contact  with 
others  ? 

It  is  not  only  that  the  small  need  the  great,  the  child 
the  man,  the  poor  the  well-to-do,  the  illiterate  the  well 
informed,  the  people  the  preacher.  But  in  every  case 
the  reverse  is  likewise  true.  Even  a  little  child  taken 
into  the  life  of  a  lonely  man  may  change  the  whole 
face  of  the  world  to  that  man's  eyes. 

Both  in  intellect  and  character  the  Apostle  Paul  was 
certainly  one  of  the  very  greatest  of  the  sons  of  men. 
His  converts  and  other  fellow-Christians  were  not,  as 
a  class,  such  as  would  naturally  be  attractive  to  him. 
Most  of  them  were  ignorant,  some  were  slaves,  some 
had  lived  lives  of  coarse  immorality  or  perhaps  of  crime. 
But  they  had  been  renewed  in  spirit  by  the  grace  of 
God  and  in  a  weak  and  stumbling  way  were  endeavour- 
ing now  to  live  their  life  in  Christ.  And  how  much  they 
meant  to  the  gifted  and  cultured  apostle!  Writing  to 
the  Philippians,  he  says,  "  Brethren  beloved,  my  joy 
and  crown  " ;  to  the  Thessalonians,  "  But  we,  brethren, 
being  bereaved  of  you  for  a  short  season,  in  presence  not 
in  heart,  endeavoured  the  more  exceedingly  to  see  your 
face  with  great  desire  " ;  to  the  Eomans,  whom  he  had 
never  yet  visited,  "  That  I  with  you  may  be  comforted 
in  you,  each  of  us  by  the  other's  faith,  both  yours  and 
mine."  Independent,  was  he  ?  Yes,  in  the  sense  of  hav- 
ing great  resources  within  himself;  but  emphatically 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    257 

not,  in  the  sense  of  indifference  toward  mutual  life- 
sharing  with  others. 

The  Master  of  life  himself  wanted  those  whom  he 
had  begun  to  call  "  friends  "  to  be  near  him  even  in 
Gethsemane.  "  Sit  ye  here,  while  I  pray."  If  their 
poor  and  unenlightened  sympathy  could  minister  any 
comfort  or  strength  to  the  Master  when  "  amazed 
and  sore  troubled,"  with  the  brimming  cup  of  sacrificial 
suffering  at  his  lips,  how  much  more  may  the  least  of 
us  all,  through  the  simple  heart-beat  of  sympathy,  be- 
come a  strength-giver  even  to  the  strongest. 

ni 

And  now  specifically  as  to  the  cooperant  force  of 
personality  in  the  teaching  and  preaching  of  God's  word. 
Take  Israel  of  old  as  an  example.  In  what  form  of 
literature  did  the  Spirit  and  providence  of  God  give 
them  the  holy  Book  which,  through  generation  after 
generation,  made  them  what  they  became  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  Divine  purpose?  Predominantly  it  was 
history;  and  this  Old  Testament  history  is  biography. 
The  God-breathed  truth  was  made  luminous  and  real 
to  them  through  a  great  succession  of  human  lives. 

If,  for  illustration,  in  a  cloister  of  Herod's  temple, 
you  could  have  had  opportunity  to  talk  with  some  such 
spiritual  Jewish  minds  as,  let  us  say,  Simeon  and  Anna, 
and  had  asked  how  it  came  to  pass  that  they  and  their 
people  got  so  strong  a  hold  of  the  doctrine  of  the  one 
true  and  living  God,  what  would  have  been  their  answer  ? 
We  should  be  quite  justified  in  imagining  them  as  nam- 
ing Abraham,  the  pioneer  of  the  monotheistic  faith,  who 


25d  VISION  AND  POWER 

left  his  father's  house  in  a  land  of  idolatry  at  the  call 
of  Grod,  and  taught  his  faith  to  his  children  after  him — 
"  We  are  the  children  of  Abraham."  Or  they  would 
have  spoken  of  the  prophets'  splendid  idealism,  their 
vision  of  righteousness  and  passion  for  its  realization 
in  Israel;  of  the  consequent  prophetic  denunciation  of 
the  foul  idolatries  that  were  corrupting  the  land;  of 
such  an  experience  as  that  of  Isaiah  the  son  of  Amoz  in 
the  temple,  the  antiphony  of  the  seraphim,  "  Holy,  holy, 
holy  is  Jehovah  of  hosts,  the  whole  earth  is  full  of  his 
glory,"  and  the  half-despairing  "  Woe  is  me !  "  that 
broke  from  the  young  prophet's  heart — "  We  are  the 
children  of  the  prophets."  If  you  had  asked  them  about 
the  laws  which  distinguished  their  people  from  all  other 
peoples,  they  would  have  said :  "  Yes,  the  laws  of  Moses, 
none  purer  and  greater  than  he,  from  the  mouth  of  God 
he  received  them  on  Sinai  and  delivered  them  unto  our 
fathers — no  prophet  has  yet  arisen  like  unto  him."  Had 
you  asked  about  the  hope  of  Messiah,  waiting  expectantly 
as  they  were  for  that  "  consolation  of  Israel,"  they  would 
have  spoken  of  Isaiah,  Micah,  and  other  prophets 
through  whom  God  had  spoken  to  their  fathers  con- 
cerning the  Man  who  should  come  to  reign  in  glory,  and 
of  the  promise:  "Behold,  I  will  send  you  Elijah  the 
prophet  before  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord 
come." 

In  a  word,  it  was  about  their  great  and  good  men, 
as  representatives  of  the  word  of  God,  that  the  faith 
of  the  people  gathered.  It  was  not  by  an  abstract  truth 
or  a  legal  code,  but  by  inspired  personalities,  that  the 
abiding  enthusiasm   of  Israel   was   kindled.      It  was 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    259 

Divine  truth  "  entangled  in  events "  and  possessing 
the  lips  and  lives  of  personal  teachers,  that  mediated 
to  the  people  the  power  of  their  redeeming  God. 

"  We  seek  with  word  and  thought 
To  open  the  eyes  of  the  blind: 
But  the  word  avails  us  naught 
To  make  the  world  to  our  mind, 
Until  we  have  learned  God's  plan 
And  sent  truth  forth  in  a  man," 

Who  was  Jesus  ?  Truth  incarnate.  "  The  Word  " — 
the  Eternal  Word  uttering  the  Eternal  Reason — "  was 
made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us."  "  The  Life  was  the 
light  of  men."  "  In  Whom  are  all  the  treasures  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge  hidden."  Men  are  saved  not 
by  a  writing  or  a  ritual  or  a  discipline,  not  by  a  truth 
or  a  legal  code,  but  by  a  Person. 

And  despite  the  opposing  power  of  sin,  the  re- 
sponse, whether  in  the  first  century  or  in  our  own,  to 
the  personality  of  Jesus  has  been  utterly  incompar- 
able. 

For  all  the  truths  of  eternal  righteousness  and  love 
which  Jesus  taught,  he  himself,  first  of  all  and  always, 
lived.  And  he  would  have  us  like"\vise,  in  our  meas- 
ure, translate  these  same  truths  into  terms  of  person- 
ality. Whether  spoken  in  the  form  of  precepts  or  other- 
wise, they  are  life-truths,  and  therefore  to  be  lived. 
They  must  be  turned  into  goodness  by  Jesus'  messen- 
gers, as  by  all  his  disciples  everywhere.  "  Your  Heav- 
enly Father,"  "  One  is  your  teacher  and  all  ye  are 
brethren,"  "  He  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted," 
"  It  is  enough  that  the  servant  should  be  as  his  master," 
"  There  is  nothing  covered  that  shall  not  be  revealed," 


260  VISION  AND  POWER 

"  A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  which  he  possesseth  " — are  not  such  words  as 
these  truths  to  be  done?  Indeed,  does  not  the  Teacher 
himself  speak  thus  of  them,  as  when  in  the  conclusion 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  he  says :  "  Every  one  there- 
fore who  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine  and  doeth  them." 
To  do  them  in  Jesus'  sense  of  the  word  is  to  do  them 
from  the  heart,  which  is  to  live  them. 

IV 

Indeed,  it  was  on  truth  and  personality — truth  as 
embodied  in  personality,  personality  as  embodying  truth 
— that  Jesus  founded  his  church.  "  Thou  art  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God."  "  Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon 
this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church."  On  truth?  Wot 
on  truth  apart  from  a  person.  On  a  person,  then  ?  Not 
on  a  person  apart  from  truth.  But  on  a  truth- 
possessed,  truth-living,  truth-confessing  man.  Of  the 
Congregation  of  those  who  confess  his  name  through- 
out the  world  and  the  ages,  figuratively  spoken  of  by 
Jesus  as  a  building  of  which  he  himself  is  the  Builder, 
of  this  great  Ecclesia  he  calls  the  first  witnessing  disci- 
ple the  first,  or  foundation,  stone.  Of  this  same  vast 
Temple  for  the  indwelling  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  Peter 
himself  has  said — did  he  have  that  great  word  at 
Csesarea  Philippi  in  mind? — using  a  figure  in  which 
God  is  the  builder  and  Christ  the  "  chief  corner-stone, 
elect,  precious,"  Christians,  "  as  living  stones,  are  built 
up  a  spiritual  house  " ;  *  and  in  the  metaphor  of  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  they  "  are  built  upon  the  foun- 

*I  Peter  2:5,  6. 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    261 

dation  of  the  Apostles  and  prophets  "  of  the  !N"ew  Testa- 
ment, "  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner- 
stone." 

Of  what,  then,  is  the  Church  of  God  in  these  Chris- 
tian ages — that  which  we  call  the  Christian  Church — 
constituted  ?  Of  the  creative  personality  of  Christ  and 
the  reborn  personalities  of  his  first  witnesses  and  their 
successors. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  therefore,  all  along 
the  history  of  the  Christian  pulpit  appears,  together 
with  the  evangelic  truth,  the  personal  force  of  the 
preacher.  It  may  be  a  winning  or  a  convincing  or  an 
imperative  force;  in  any  case  it  is  his.  Note  the  ex- 
amples of  it  in  the  pulpits  of  to-day — and  of  yesterday. 
Note  the  need  of  it  where  one  might  least  suppose  it 
would  be  called  for — say,  in  the  wilds  of  Central 
Africa :  "  Thus  you  see  us  confronted,"  says  Dan 
Crawford,  "  with  a  painful  and  even  awful  aspect  of 
this  winning  of  first-generation  Africans  for  Christ — I 
mean  the  innocent  way  they  take  you  for  walking  and 
talking  Bibles."  Note  the  beginnings  of  it  in  the 
preaching  of  the  apostolic  age.  It  appears  not  only 
in  the  Apostle  Peter,  but  more  notably  in  the  later 
called  apostle  who  could  say  to  his  Christian  converts 
in  Thessalonica :  "  We  were  well  pleased  to  impart  unto 
you  not  the  gospel  of  God  only,  but  also  our  own  souls, 
because  ye  were  become  very  dear  to  us,"  Truth  in 
alliance  with  love,  truth-giving  in  the  spirit  of  self- 
giving,  the  impartation  of  their  own  lives,  their  "  own 
souls,"  together  with  the  gospel  of  God — that  was  the 
ministry  of  Paul  and  his  companions  to  the  congrega- 


262  VISION  AND  POWER 

tion  they  tad  gathered  in  the  European  city  of  Thessa- 
lonica. 

Or,  as  one  of  the  less  conspicuous  characters,  take 
Barnabas  the  apostolic  exhorter — Joseph,  who  was  sur- 
named  by  the  Apostles  Barnabas  ("  the  Son  of  Exhorta- 
tion ").  "  He  was  a  good  man."  The  word  (  vaya^oi) 
is  evidently  used  in  its  sense  of  Tcind,  generous,  benevo- 
lent. For  wherever  Barnabas  appears  in  the  story  of 
The  Acts  it  is  in  the  way  of  some  generous  or  friendly 
or  self-effacing  conduct  * — a  kind-hearted,  helpful 
brother.  Hence  we  are  not  surprised  that  he  should  be 
called  by  the  brethren  of  the  council  in  Jerusalem  "  be- 
loved," or  that  with  a  glad  heart  he  should  minister 
to  the  young  Christians  at  Antioch,  or  that  it  should 
be  recorded  of  his  ministry  of  exhortation  in  that  city : 
"  And  much  people  was  added  unto  the  Lord." 

"  For  he  was  a  good " — preacher  ?  Something 
greater — "  a  good  man."  When  the  life  of  the  preacher 
shows  that  unconscious  Christian  goodness  which  will 
make  friends  for  himself,  it  will  at  the  same  time  be 
making  friends  for  the  truth  he  represents  and  the 
Master  he  serves.  So  will  it  vitally  help  him  "  add  much 
people  "  unto  the  Lord. 


Now,  it  is  quite  possible,  in  fact  a  common  experi- 
ence, to  be  impressed  more  or  less  with  the  personal 
power  of  some  person  whom  we  have  never  even  seen. 
Suppose  him  to  be  an  author,  making  himself  as  well 
as  his  ideas  felt  in  his  writings.    In  the  written  words, 

♦Acts  4:  36,  37;  9:  27;   11:  22,  23,  25;   15:  37,  39. 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    263 

it  may  be,  the  reader  hears  as  it  were  the  accents  of 
a  voice,  feels  the  heart-throb  of  a  masterly  and  gracious 
brother  man.  Of  the  New  Testament  writers,  for  in- 
stance, how  strongly  does  the  Apostle  Paul  strike  home, 
even  across  continents  and  centuries,  not  only  with  his 
great  revealed  truths,  but  also  with  a  personality  to 
which  these  same  truths  were  the  very  bread  of  life — 
the  great-minded,  tender-hearted,  courteous,  mystical, 
practical,  consecrated  soul  of  the  man. 

So  with  this  or  that  writer  whose  words  have  entered 
deeply  into  one's  inner  life.  Why  is  not  the  book 
sufficient  ?  Why  care  for  the  author  ?  We  do  care. 
He  has  influenced  our  thinking,  our  spirit,  our  life. 
(We  have  felt  the  thrill  of  his  personal  power — a  spir- 
itual contact.  He  is  greater  than  his  written  words. 
He  is  self-diffused  through  his  book.  We  visit  the 
house  which  was  his  home.  "  This,"  says  the  attendant, 
"  is  the  room  in  which  the  book  was  written ;  "  and  we 
enter  reverently,  for — 

"  What's  hallowed  ground? 
'Tis  where  the  birth 
Of  sacred  thoughts 

Thrilled  souls  of  worth." 

But  more  penetrating  and  humanizing  is  the  power 
of  personality  expressing  itself  not  with  pen  and  ink, 
but  in  a  living  face  and  in  living  speech.  There  are 
faces  which  one  instinctively  trusts — or  hesitates  to 
trust.  "  Isn't  it  lovely  ?  "  said  to  me  a  Sister  of  Char- 
ity, showing  a  likeness  of  the  uncommonly  ill-favoured 
face  of  the  founder  of  her  order.  It  was  Vincent's 
benignant  soul  at  which  she  was  looking.    No  fineness 


264  VISION  AND  POWER 

of  features  can  make  a  soulless  face  impressive,  nor 
can  any  plainness  make  a  soulful  face  other  than  fine 
and  fair.  "  If  you  are  not  beautiful  at  seventeen," 
said  their  teacher  to  a  school  of  young  women,  "  it  is 
not  your  fault,  but  if  you  are  not  beautiful  at  seventy 
it  will  be  your  fault."  Here,  as  everywhere,  it  is  the 
personality  that  tells. 

Have  you  known  a  man  whose  mere  presence  seemed 
to  lower  the  moral  or  religious  temperature  of  the  com- 
pany he  entered  ?  You  have  known  another  of  whom 
it  was  true,  as  some  one  has  said,  that  "  when  he  is 
present  doubts  die  away  and  certainty  increases,  the 
unseen  world  is  nearer,  and  spiritual  powers  are 
active." 

It  is  reported  of  Richard  Whately  and  John  Henry 
l^ewman  that,  in  the  common  room  of  Oxford  Univer- 
sity, their  comrades  required  Whately  to  prove  what  he 
said,  with  a  clear  process  of  reasoning,  but  were  in- 
clined to  accept  Newman's  affirmations  without  asking 
for  proofs.  While  trusting  Whately's  logic,  they  trusted 
Newman  himself.  It  does  not  follow,  of  course,  that 
Whately  was  untrustworthy  either  in  intellect  or  in 
character;  for  exactly  the  opposite  is  true.  Newman 
himself  acknowledged  a  great  intellectual  indebtedness 
to  his  clear-minded  logical  friend.  He  says  of  him: 
"  While  I  was  still  awkward  and  timid,  he  took  me  by 
the  hand  and  acted  the  part  to  me  of  a  gentle  and 
encouraging  instructor.  He  emphatically  opened  my 
mind  and  taught  me  to  think  and  use  my  reason."  But 
Newman,  even  in  this  early  stage  of  his  career,  was 
exerting  an  altogether  exceptional   personal   influence 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    265 

upon  other  minds.  And  it  was  not  chiefly  due  to  his 
intellectual  endowments,  but  rather  to  the  manifest 
sincerity,  the  intensity  of  religious  devotedness,  the 
restrained  passionate  earnestness  of  the  man.  It  was 
this  extraordinary  moral  intentness  back  of  his  intel- 
lectual and  literary  activity  that  made  Newman,  de- 
spite his  reactionary  and  erroneous  beliefs,  so  notable 
an  ecclesiastic  power  in  the  England  of  his  day. 

Now  it  is  such  a  power  of  sincerity,  conviction, 
moral  earnestness  that  is  to  be  used  to  the  utmost  in 
the  Christian  pulpit.  A  young  woman  perplexed  in 
faith  who  went,  through  curiosity,  to  hear  Dwight  L. 
Moody  preach,  said  on  coming  away :  "  I  like  him,  he 
just  makes  you  believe."  It  was  not  the  knowledge  or 
the  reasoning  but  the  moral  intentness  and  intensity 
of  the  preacher  that  made  for  even  the  intellectual 
assurance  of  his  doubting  hearer. 

A  great  conviction,  is  it  not  a  prime  essential  of  per- 
suasive power?  Even  the  errorist  or  the  fanatic  has 
often  illustrated  its  effectiveness.  Much  more  may  the 
man  of  wisdom  and  truth. 

If  a  man  believe  not,  his  time  for  speech  has  not 
yet  come.  Let  him  think  and  live.  Especially  let 
him  live.  And  he  may  well  keep  silence  for  a  time 
with  men,  talking  the  more  with  God.  "  You  cannot 
change  human  nature,"  "  It's  a  long  time  till  the  mil- 
lennium :  "  such  phrases  may  be  credited  with  a  meas- 
ure of  prudential  truth,  but  their  chief  noteworthiness 
is  their  deadening  lack  of  the  larger  spiritual  vision 
and  the  deeper  moral  earnestness.  "  There  will  be 
a  Black  Bottom  while  the  world  stands,"  I  heard  a 


266  VISION  AND  POWER 

preacher  declare  from  the  pulpit.  It  was  a  certain  city 
slum  of  which  he  was  speaking.  There  were  those 
in  the  community  who  were  trying  to  cleanse  and  re- 
store it.  Why  should  he  publish  his  doubts  ?  A  prophet 
without  vision,  what  had  he  to  tell  or  what  power  of 
telling  ? 

But  conviction  will  transmute  weakness  into  strength. 
It  will  make  the  timid  heroic,  the  common  man  extraor- 
dinary. Let  a  speaker  hold  and  possess  the  truth.  It 
is  well.  But  rather  let  the  truth  hold  and  possess  him. 
Let  it  have  sway  in  his  soul  and  speech,  and  it  will 
find  doors  of  entrance  into  other  souls  for  which  a 
mere  rigorous  logic  might  grope  in  vain. 

Nor  is  it  only  intensity  of  conviction  and  purpose 
that  is  powerful  in  a  speaker's  impression  upon  other 
minds.  The  power  of  joyousness,  hopefulness,  courage, 
sympathy,  might  also  be  illustrated  with  examples 
innumerable.  And  it  is  all  these  qualities  that  the 
indwelling  Christ  would  create — wholeness,  perfectness, 
not  a  caricature  but  a  likeness  of  Christianity.  "  This 
grace  also  "  was  Paul's  word  to  the  Corinthians.  "  As 
ye  abound  in  everything,  in  faith  and  utterance  and 
knowledge  and  in  all  earnestness,  and  in  your  love  to 
us,  see  that  ye  abound  in  this  grace  [of  Christian  liber- 
ality] also."  Yes,  the  word  of  salvation  into  the  life 
of  filial  devotion  to  the  Heavenly  Father  is  always  a 
"  this  grace  also  " — "  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  com- 
plete, furnished  completely  unto  every  good  work." 

Briefly,  it  is  a  Christian,  in  all  the  sweet  and  majestic 
fulness  of  that  great  word,  whose  speech  is  mightiest 
in  the  man  behind  the  message. 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    267 


VI 

Paul,  it  is  true,  has  said  that  in  his  day,  while  there 
were  those  who  preached  Christ  "  of  good  will,"  there 
were  also  some  who  preached  Christ  "  not  sincerely," 
but  "  even  of  envy  and  strife,"  "  of  faction."  "  What 
then  ?  "  he  asks ;  and  his  unexpected  answer — ^what  is 
it  ?  We  recall  that  he  had  already  said  in  writing  to 
the  Corinthians  with  reference  to  himself  and  the  earlier 
apostles,  who  had  been  taught  and  trained  by  the  Mas- 
ter, that  the  same  gospel  had  been  preached  with  saving 
effect  by  him  and  by  them,  one  and  all.  It  was  not  a 
question  of  which  one  preached  it.  "  Whether  then  it  be 
I  or  they,  so  we  preach  and  so  ye  believed."  *  But 
here  in  writing  to  the  Philippians  he  makes  a  much 
broader  assertion :  "  What  then  ?  Only  that  in  every 
way,  whether  in  pretence  or  truth,  Christ  is  proclaimed, 
and  therein  I  rejoice,  yea,  and  will  rejoice."  f  He 
would  be  glad  and  rejoice  that  the  life-bearing  facts  of 
redemption  in  Christ  should  be  proclaimed  to  a  world 
that  had  not  heard  the  good  tidings,  even  if  it  should 
be  from  a  factious  or  a  selfish  motive.  The  gospel, 
even  though  hindered  by  an  evil  spirit  in  the  preacher, 
may  still  have  power  to  save.  Some  light  may  shine 
through  a  cloudy  window,  and  some  souls  may  be  con- 
verted under  the  appeals  of  a  vain  or  money-loving  or 
otherwise  self-seeking  evangelist.  But  how  much  surer, 
deeper,  greater  the  appeal  when  made  in  such  a  spirit 
of  nobility  and  sacrificial  love  as  that  of  the  great- 

*  I  Corinthians  15:  11. 
t  Philippians   1:  15-18. 


268  VISION  AND  POWER 

hearted  apostle  himself.  Besides,  "what  case  could 
be  more  miserable,"  as  Chrysostom  asks,  "  than  a  teach- 
er's when  it  saves  his  disciples  to  give  no  heed  to  his 
life?" 

So,  the  apostle,  before  closing  this  same  epi-tle,  short 
as  it  is,  in  which  he  has  expressed  his  joy  that  Christ 
is  preached  even  though  it  be  "  of  faction,"  exhorts 
the  Philippian  Christians  to  do  nothing  "  through  fac- 
tion or  through  vainglory."  On  the  contrary,  he  would 
have  those  who  are  "  holding  forth  the  word  of  life  " 
to  be  good-spirited  and  blameless,  "  children  of  God 
without  blemish."  * 

Listen  also  to  his  reminder  in  the  introduction  to 
First  Thessalonians :  "  Our  gospel  came  not  unto  you 
in  word  only  but  also  in  power,  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  in  much  assurance;  even  as  ye  know  what  man- 
ner of  men  we  showed  ourselves  toward  you  for 
your  sake.  And  ye  became  imitators  of  us  and  of  the 
Lord." 

It  is  plain  enough,  then,  how  these  people  of  Thes- 
salonica — the  same  to  whom  Paul  wrote,  "  we  were 
well  pleased  to  impart  unto  you  .  .  .  our  own  souls  " — 
were  led  to  Christ.  It  was  hy  Divine  power,  "  in  the 
Holy  Spirit,"  through  the  preaching  of  evangelic  truth, 
"  our  gospel,"  But  something  else.  Together  with 
the  gospel  there  wrought  the  personality  of  the  three 
men,  Paul,  Silvanus,  and  Timothy,  who  preached  it. 
"  Even  as  ye  know  what  manner  of  men  we  showed 
ourselves  toward  you  for  your  sake.  And  ye  be- 
came imitators  of  us  and  of  the  Lord."  Thus  they 
•Philippians  2:  15,  16. 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    269 

were  saved — made  imitators  of  the  Lord — by  means  of 
the  gospel  as  set  forth  from  the  lips  and  in  the  lives  of 
its  preachers. 

The  life  the  ally  of  the  lips,  is  a  universally  acknowl- 
edged principle  of  eloquence.  And  it  holds  good  in 
the  case  of  wise  and  thoughtful  as  well  as  of  emotional 
hearers.  "  Greeks  seek  after  wisdom,"  wrote  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  They  were  quick-witted,  keenly 
inquisitive.  Philosophy  naturally  made  its  home  among 
them.  One  might  fancy,  accordingly,  that  the  element 
of  personal  character  in  the  speaker  would  count  for 
very  little  with  such  a  people.  Did  it,  then?  On 
the  contrary,  it  was  their  own  great  Aristotle  that  said : 
"  Your  power  over  your  hearers  will  depend  upon  what 
your  hearers  think  of  you."  And  of  Pericles,  with  his 
extraordinary  practice  of  the  arts  of  oratory,  it  was 
said  that  "  these  alone  were  not  sufficient,  but  the  orator 
was  a  man  of  probity  and  unblemished  reputation,"  and 
that  he  did  not  humour  the  people  but  led  them,  and 
"  was  able  on  the  strength  of  his  character  to  control 
them  even  at  the  risk  of  their  displeasure."  Great  is 
rhetoric,  compact  of  mental  laws,  servant  of  persuasive 
power.  Make  yourself  master  of  it.  But  the  greater 
weight  of  your  utterance  will  be  due  not  to  your  mas- 
tery of  language,  but  to  the  mastery  of  your  own  lower 
self  and  to  the  spirit  of  goodness  and  truth  that  breathes 
through  your  life  and  speaks  in  your  speech. 

I^or  is  this  a  disparagement  of  evangelic  truth,  as 
if  it  did  not  possess  a  perfect  claim  in  itself,  but  had 
to  be  bolstered  up  by  some  mere  personal  human  power. 
It  does  not  mean  that.    The  meaning  is  that,  while  the 


270  VISION  AND  POWER 

Holy  Spirit  may  reach  men  through  simple  Christian 
truth,  it  may  reach  them  more  freely  through  the  hu- 
manized truth  of  Christian  personality. 

"A  student  came  to  me  in  college,  having  spent  three 
or  four  years  already  as  a  preacher,  to  talk  over  a 
certain  mental  perplexity  which  had  been  troubling 
him.  In  fact,  the  desire  to  find  relief  from  this  per- 
plexity was  one  of  the  motives  which  had  influenced 
him  to  quit  preaching  for  a  time  and  seek  fuller  light 
in  a  course  of  study.  "  I  found,"  he  said,  "  that  when 
I  was  in  good  spirit  and  preached  an  animated  sermon, 
the  people  responded  in  a  corresponding  manner,  and 
when  I  was  dull  and  inanimate  so  were  they.  Thus 
it  all  seemed  to  be  a  matter  of  human  feeling  rather 
than  of  divine  power." 

The  answer  is  not  difiicult.  If  the  preacher's  "  good 
spirit  "  was  simply  that  of  bodily  animation  or  that 
of  the  natural  excitement  which  often  attends  public 
speech,  or  that  of  a  mere  emotionalism,  there  is  no 
reason  to  believe  that  the  corresponding  effect  upon 
the  congregation  was  that  of  Divine  regenerative  power. 
But  if,  on  the  contrary,  the  "  good  spirit  "  was  one 
of  moral  earnestness,  of  joy  in  the  truth  and  in  the 
well-being  of  souls,  if  it  were  what  the  Apostle  Paul 
calls  a  "  spirit  of  wisdom  "  and  a  "  spirit  of  power 
and  love,"  the  "  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  " — in 
a  word,  if  it  were  the  pulsations  of  the  preacher's  own 
Christian  personality  stirring  the  hearts  of  the  congre- 
gation, there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  therewith  might 
come  the  veritable  power  of  God  unto  salvation.  Shall 
spiritual  truth  have  less  power  for  being  fused  into 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    271 

personality?     Shall  we  forget  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
has  a  human  way  into  the  human  heart  ? 

Suppose  the  preacher  to  attain  such  a  preparation  to 
preach  as  was  required  of  the  prophet  by  the  river 
Chebar.  Eat  the  book,  said  a  voice  of  one  that  spoke 
to  him.  A  roll,  a  book,  written  on  both  sides  with 
Jehovah's  message  to  Israel,  to  hand  it  over  to  the 
people  was  not  enough.  To  proclaim  its  contents  as 
a  herald  was  not  enough.  To  explain  it  as  a  scribe 
was  not  enough.  Message  and  messenger  must  become 
one.  Let  it  be  true  of  him  as  it  was  said  of  Adam 
Clarke,  the  Bible  commentator  and  early  Wesleyan 
Methodist  preacher,  that  his  hearers  were  made  sensible 
that  "  he  and  his  subject  were  one,  that  his  being  was 
possessed  of  it,  that  they  might  cut  off  his  right  arm, 
but  that  nothing  could  separate  him  and  his  faith." 
"  Eat  this  roll  and  go  speak  unto  the  house  of  Israel." 
As  daily  bread  taken  into  the  body's  life,  so  let  the 
truth  of  God  pervade  and  vitalize  the  soul.  Eat  this 
bread  of  heaven.  "  ^Nourished  in  the  words  of  the 
faith."  "  Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you  richly 
in  all  wisdom."  Suppose  this  to  be  our  Christian 
prophet's  method,  both  general  and  particular,  of  pre- 
paring to  preach.    Who  will  show  him  a  better  ? 

VII 

Kow  it  may  be  safely  assumed  that  the  reader  of 
these  pages  is  a  friend  of  the  Christian  pulpit.  So  also 
is  the  writer,  a  lifelong  lover  of  it.  But  I  will  venture 
to  say  that  it  is  not  because  of  any  partial  prejudgment 
of  preaching,  as  compared  with  other  forms  of  public 


272  VISION  AND  POWER 

speaking,  that  reader  and  writer  believe  the  demand 
for  a  suitable  personality  on  the  part  of  the  preacher 
to  be  preeminently  great.  We  do  believe  it.  We  be- 
lieve that  if  any  one  who  stands  regularly  before  an 
audience  needs  to  be  able  to  say,  not  only  as  Peter 
did  to  the  cripple  at  the  Gate  Beautiful,  "  What  I  have, 
that  give  I  thee,"  but  even,  "  What  I  am,  that  give  I 
thee,"  the  proclaimer  of  evangelic  truth  is  that  man.  He 
needs,  moreover,  that  his  what  I  am  should  be  of  the 
worthiest  and  best.  But  this  is  no  partial  or  biased 
opinion.  There  are  reasons  for  it.  One  special  reason 
is  that  the  demands  which  the  preacher  makes  in  his 
gospel  upon  them  that  hear  him  are  the  most  exacting 
that  are  ever  heard  from  any  speaker's  lips.  Absolute 
abandonment  of  the  sovereignty  of  self  for  the  sover- 
eignty of  Christ,  absolute  devotion  to  the  will  of  the 
Father  in  heaven  as  the  law  of  life — that  is  this  pub- 
lic speaker's  demand. 

It  may,  for  instance,  cost  the  obedient  hearer  the 
making  of  restitution  for  goods  taken  from  his  neigh- 
bour through  fraudulent  transactions.  It  may  cost  him 
the  giving  up  of  the  business  on  which  his  livelihood 
depends,  or  of  this  and  that  feature  of  his  business. 
*'  Behold,  Lord,  the  half  of  my  goods  I  give  to  the 
poor,  and  if  I  have  wrongfully  exacted  aught  of  any 
man,  I  restore  fourfold  " — that  was  the  repentance  of 
Zaccheus  as  be  stood  before  the  heavenly  Guest  who 
had  brought  to  his  house  the  word  of  salvation.  "  Buy, 
sell,  get,  gain,  enjoy — these  words  he  knew.  But  '  re- 
store '  and  '  give '  almost  stuck  in  his  throat  " — never- 
theless, he  spoke  them  out  distinctly  from  his  heart. 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    273 

And  the  same  spirit  and  principles  of  action  are  the 
repentance  demanded  by  the  word  of  Christ's  salvation 
from  any  other  dishonest  and  selfish  man. 

All  perfectly  reasonable,  undoubtedly;  no  more  than 
men  ought  to  do  and  acknowledge,  to  be  sure.  But  this 
tremendous  ought,  is  it  a  light  or  easy  matter?  'No 
other  life-task  to  which  one  may  be  called  means  or 
requires  so  much. 

Yet  this  great  life  of  Christian  discipleship — this 
coming  after  Christ  as  well  as  to  him — is  no  impos- 
sible dream.  By  the  grace  of  God  it  has  been  made 
actual,  far  and  wfde,  in  human  lives.  Surely  it  needs 
to  be  actualized  in  the  life  of  him  who  is  ever  urging 
the  experience  and  practice  of  it  upon  others.  Would 
he  speak  of  such  a  discipleship  with  power?  It  may 
be  done  through  the  cooperation  of  speech  and  life. 

Verily  we  do  constantly  speak  of  great  matters,  we 
preachers  of  the  gospel.  We  dare  to  proclaim  the  will 
of  God,  the  fact  of  Christ,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on 
earth,  the  way  of  life  and  of  death.  We  must ;  noth- 
ing less  is  our  mission.  And  we  may  expect  such 
truths  to  be  effective  unto  great  results — if,  indeed,  at 
the  same  time  we  be  living  them. 

When  John  Bunyan,  a  prisoner  for  conscience'  sake, 
was  offered  his  liberty  on  condition  that  he  would  ab- 
stain from  preaching,  and  replied  to  the  magistrate,  "  If 
you  let  me  out  to-day,  I  should  preach  to-morrow,"  his 
sweetness  of  spirit  seems  not  for  a  moment  to  have 
failed.  The  great  dreamer  was  equally  great  in  the 
doing  of  his  dream.  Why  should  he  not,  when  re- 
leased from  the  "  den  "  in  which  he  had  been  so  long 


274  VISION  AND  POWER 

shut  up,  teach,  if  he  felt  moved  to  do  so,  the  duty  of 
an  unconquerable  will  conjoined  with  a  genial  and  lov- 
ing heart  in  the  Christian  life? 

Last  Sunday  morning  the  preacher  to  whom  I  was 
listening  told  of  a  ministerial  brother  whom  he  had 
recently  visited  and  found  writing  a  sermon,  to  be 
preached  from  a  chair  in  his  pulpit,  on  the  theme, 
"How  to  Meet  Trouble."  This  brother,  a  typical 
north-of -Ireland  man,  had  been  notably  able-bodied  and 
happy-hearted.  But  grievous  trouble  had  befallen  him. 
The  hand  of  death  had  been  laid  upon  his  wife,  and 
then  upon  his  little  daughter,  an  only  child — his  home 
destroyed.  Shortly  afterward,  in  a  railroad  accident, 
one  of  his  hands  and  both  his  lower  limbs  were  severed 
from  the  body.  And  now,  propped  up  in  bed,  in  con- 
stant physical  pain,  he  was  writing  down  with  the  hand 
that  had  been  left  him  a  message  of  comfort  and 
strength  to  troubled  hearts  in  his  congregation.  No 
word  of  complaint,  no  bitterness,  no  mock  heroics, 
sorrowful  yet  always  rejoicing,  the  peace  of  Christ 
ruling  in  his  heart.  "  Old  man,"  said  the  visiting 
brother,  "you  are  the  sermon."  So  he  was.  Well 
might  it  have  been  said  of  him  as  it  was  said  of  Edward 
Irving  in  the  days  of  his  power,  that  he  lived  his  ser- 
mon and  preached  his  life.  And  with  both  inspiration 
and  authority  might  he  teach  to  others  the  truth  of 
faith  and  joy  which  he  was  all  the  while  illustrating  in 
his  own  Christlike  personality. 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    276 


VIII 

Let  us  make  no  mistake.  There  is  such  a  thing  as 
the  intrusion  rather  than  the  simple  energizing  pres- 
ence of  the  preacher  in  the  sermon.  He  may  have  much 
to  say,  habitually  perhaps,  about  his  own  remarkable 
experiences,  good  deeds,  bright  sayings,  successes, 
achievements.  He  may  be  too  habitually  aware  of  his 
own  doings  and  indirectly  far  too  commendatory  of 
himself.  A  secret  thing  of  the  heart,  it  will  in- 
evitably disclose  itself,  sometimes  in  such  excessive  self- 
references,  sometimes  in  self-importance  of  manner. 
And  is  not  this  the  personality  of  the  preacher  in  his 
preaching?  Alas,  it  is  even  so.  It  is  an  evil  element 
of  his  personality.  It  is  not  self-devotion  but  self- 
exaltation.  Far  from  attracting,  it  repels.  For  it  is 
not  putting  one's  self  into  the  sermon  so  as  to  preach 
Christ,  but  putting  Christ  into  the  sermon  so  as  to 
preach  one's  self. 

The  disciple  who  has  turned  from  his  selfish  ambi- 
tions, tearing  off  the  veil  with  which  he  would  have 
hidden  them  from  his  own  eyes,  and  become  childlike 
in  spirit,  he  shall  be  great  in  the  service  of  the  king- 
dom of  God.  Those  who  "  gird  themselves  with  humil- 
ity," they  are  prepared  most  effectively  to  "  serve  one 
another."  *  "I  shall  measure  your  words,"  says  George 
Matheson,  "  not  by  their  size  but  by  your  size."  It  is 
the  unconscious  goodness  of  the  preacher,  not  the  good- 
ness or  greatness  which  he  talks  about,  that  reaches 

*  I  Peter  5:  5. 


27e  VISION  AND  POWER 

the  heart — having  itself  no  other  human  source  or 
destination  or  home.  Said  a  good  woman :  "  It  is  to 
me  an  amazing  experience  that  there  are  people  who 
are  influenced  by  what  I  say,  not  because  I  say  it  well, 
but  because  it  is  I  that  say  it."  But  her  very  inability 
to  explain  the  fact  suggested  its  explanation.  She  was 
good  without  obtrusive  self-consciousness.  Her  word 
was  influential  because  back  of  it  was  the  force  of  an 
influential  life,  the  power  of  a  true  and  unpretentious 
womanhood. 

As  a  thoroughly  eloquent  speaker  would  be  at  the 
time  quite  unaware  of  his  eloquence,  so  a  thoroughly 
noble  soul  will  never  be  caught  doting  upon  his  noble- 
ness. It  is  one  of  Fairbairn's  penetrative  words :  ''  The 
goodness  that  knows  itself  to  be  good  is  but  the  inward 
side  of  the  spirit  that  outwardly  thanks  God  that  it  is 
not  as  other  men."  The  Christian  note,  then,  is  not 
boasting — "  it  is  excluded  " — either  crude  or  refined, 
but  aspiration  and  faith ;  not  self-praise,  direct  or  indi- 
rect, but  truth  in  love. 

Let  us,  therefore,  one  and  all,  before  delivering  any 
word  to  others,  take  this  word  of  preaching  to  our- 
selves :  "  Be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your 
mind,  that  ye  may  prove  what  is  the  good  and  ac- 
ceptable and  perfect  will  of  God."  "  Be  ye  transformed 
{fiEra}jiopq)ovfiai)  " — it  is  the  same  word  that  is  used 
by  both  Matthew  and  Mark  for  the  Transfiguration  of 
Jesus  "  on  the  holy  mount."  Be  ye  transfigured  in 
mind,  spirit,  character,  so  as  to  become  like  him  who 
was  ever  perfectly  proving  God's  own  perfect  will.    For 


PERSONALITY  OF  THE  PREACHER    277 

this  is  our  transfiguration,  made  possible  through  him. 
And  it  will  be  as  a  flame  shining  even  through  the  flesh 
and  hallowing  the  whole  outward  life.  Said  Enoch 
Mather  Marvin,  a  child  of  eight  years,  praying  in  his 
backwoods  home,  where  a  Christian  mother  lived  in  his 
daily  presence  the  truth  of  Jesus'  love :  "  O  God,  give 
me  that  which  makes  my  mother  so  beautiful  and  so 
good."  When,  years  afterward,  in  joumeyings  far 
and  wide,  he  stood  up  to  preach  the  faith  which  he 
had  learned  first  through  his  mother's  gracious  per- 
sonality, there  shone  oftentimes  from  his  own  plain, 
pale  face  the  inner  beauty  of  goodness  and  truth  for 
which  in  the  simplicity  of  childhood  he  had  prayed. 

Give  us.  Lord,  that  purity  of  purpose,  that  inward 
truth  of  righteousness,  that  all-pervasive  love,  which 
will  make  us,  unconsciously  to  ourselves,  light-bearers 
to  others,  holding  forth  the  word  of  life. 


XIII 
POWER  OF  THE  INDWELLING  SPIRIT 

And  while  Peter  thought  on  the  vision  the  Spirit  said 
unto  him    .    .    . — Acts   10:  19. 

Now  therefore  we  are  all  here  present  in  the  sight 
of  God  .   .   .—Acts  10:33. 

How  God  anointed  Him  with  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
with  power  .    .    . — Acts  10:38. 

While  Peter  yet  spake  these  words  the  Holy  Spirit  fell 
on  all  them  that  heard  the  word. — Acts  10:44. 

ONE  might  say  that  Peter's  sermon  at  Csesarea 
was  never  concluded — at  least  by  the  preacher. 
It  might  naturally  have  ended  with  a  recital  of 
the  great  consummation  of  Pentecost,  that  coming  again 
of  Christ  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit.  But  it  reached 
a  still  greater  conclusion.  It  ended  in  a  recurrence 
of  the  signs,  visible  and  audible,  of  Pentecost  itself. 
For  while  the  preacher  was  telling,  with  intermingled 
interpretation,  the  story  of  him  in  whose  name  is  of- 
fered remission  of  sins,  those  who  heard  the  word  began 
to  speak  with  tongues,  magnifying  God. 

Peter  called  to  mind  the  words  of  the  Master :  "  John 
indeed  baptized  with  water  but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with 
the  Holy  Spirit."  This  promise,  then,  was  for  others 
than  the  original  Apostles,  for  others  than  Jewish  be- 
lievers. It  was  fulfilled  at  Pentecost,  but  here  was 
another  and  in  one  sense  a  larger  fulfilment — in  "  the 
Pentecost  of  the  Gentiles."    Not  unnaturally  the  breth- 

278 


POWER  OF  THE  INDWELLING  SPIRIT    279 

ren  who  had  come  with  the  apostle  from  Joppa  were 
amazed.  They  had  never  dreamt  of  seeing  the  gift 
of  the  Spirit  poured  out  on  Gentiles  also.  Yet  it  was 
the  signs  of  just  such  a  baptism  that  here  in  the  house 
of  Cornelius  they  were  witnessing. 

Now,  in  this  culminating  event  of  his  first  ministry 
to  Gentiles,  the  assurance  to  the  apostle  that  he  had 
been  interpreting  his  vision  aright  was  made  doubly 
sure.  Any  possible  lingering  doubt  of  it  must  have 
been  shamed  away.  God  had  given  of  his  Spirit  to 
these  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel,  just 
as  he  had  done  to  the  Apostles  themselves  and  to  others 
who  held  a  birthright  in  that  sacred  commonwealth. 
What  further  proof  of  his  equal  good-will  in  Jesus 
Christ  to  the  outside  peoples  could  be  asked? 

"Even  as  on  us: "  that  was  Peter's  apologetic  word 
to  his  adverse  critics  at  the  meeting  soon  afterward 
in  Jerusalem — "  the  Holy  Spirit  fell  on  them,  even  as 
on  us  at  the  beginning."  Ought  he  to  have  refused  to 
believe  in  the  evident  significance  of  that  which  with 
his  own  eyes  and  ears  he  then  perceived?  It  would 
have  been,  he  said,  to  "  withstand  God." 


But  what  meaning  has  such  an  event  for  our  own 
time — and  for  all  time?  We  have  already  been  re- 
minded that,  while  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  is  at- 
tended by  the  power  of  truth  and  of  personality,  the 
heart  and  source  of  its  power  is  in  the  strictest  sense 
Divine.  No  matter  what  may  be  the  form  of  the  spoken 
words  or  who  may  be  the  speaker,  the  saving  power, 


280  VISION  AND  POWER 

though  it  may  be  in  them,  is  not  of  them.  "  The  word 
of  the  cross  ...  is  the  power  of  Ood."  The  gospel  is 
"  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation."  If  men  with  godly 
sorrow  turn  away  from  their  sins,  whence  came  it  ?  If 
they  are  inwardly  renewed  in  righteousness,  their  lives 
lifted  to  a  higher  spiritual  plane,  whence  came  it?  If 
God's  love  to  them  is  so  shed  abroad  in  their  hearts 
as  to  make  his  will  more  and  more  regnant  in  their 
wills,  is  it  the  outcome  of  a  simple  effort  or  determina- 
tion of  their  own  ?  One  had  as  well  ask  to  whom  men 
pray  for  salvation,  or  to  whom  the  praise  of  their  salva- 
tion is  instinctively  offered. 

There  is  but  one  answer  to  all  such  questions. 

Nor  may  we  assert  that  it  is  only  by  means  of  the  gospel 
and  its  personal  witness-bearers  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
can  reach  the  human  heart.  On  the  contrary,  the  Spirit 
is  always  and  everywhere  present.  He  is  in  the  lives 
of  men  who  have  never  heard  the  gospel.  He  is  in 
their  inner  life,  to  give  the  sense  of  sin  and  need,  to 
excite  spiritual  yearnings,  to  strengthen  the  will  for 
doing  such  truth  as  is  known.  Was  not  this  the  case 
of  Cornelius?  But  there  is  also  a  preparation  for 
the  gospel  in  men  who,  unlike  Cornelius,  have  never 
heard  the  name  of  the  God  of  Israel.  "  It  means," 
says  the  author  of  "  The  Indwelling  Spirit,"  "  that  a 
missionary,  not  only  in  India  but  in  Patagonia,  not 
only  among  Buddhists  but  among  Fijians,  orders  his 
speech  as  to  those  in  whom  God  the  Holy  Spirit  has 
already  been  at  work,  and  that  there  is  and  can  be 
no  man  of  whom  that  is  not  true." 

Ask  the  missionaries  themselves  for  illustrative  ex- 


POWER  OF  THE  INDWELLING  SPIRIT    281 

amples.  They  will  tell  of  a  prepared  Cornelius  and 
his  family,  here  and  there.  Said  an  awakened  pagan  in 
the  Far  East,  when,  in  reading  the  copy  of  the  four 
Gospels  that  had  fallen  into  his  hands,  he  had  touched 
the  heart  of  the  Gospel  of  John :  "  It  must  be  true,  it 
is  true,  for  it  is  just  what  I  have  been  longing  for  and 
searching  for."  What  unseen  Power  had  been  leading 
him  hitherto  ?  Augustine  of  Hippo  could  have  told  us : 
"  For  He  did  not  make  them  and  so  depart,  but  they 
are  of  him  and  in  him.  See  there  he  is,  where  truth  is 
loved.  He  is  in  the  very  heart,  yet  hath  the  heart  strayed 
from  him."  *  Dan  Crawford  has  told  us,  when,  out  of 
twenty-two  years  of  free  missionary  labour  in  the  Dark 
Continent,  he  testifies :  "  God  is  his  own  pioneer,  and 
in  the  heart  of  Africa,  black,  '  heathen '  Africa,  he  has 
preceded  us."  Ask  this  Central  African  how  he  knows 
that  there  is  a  God,  and  he  replies :  "  How  do  I  know 
that  my  goats  passed  along  the  wet,  muddy  road  this 
morning,  if  not  by  the  deep  imprints  left  in  the  mud  ?  " 
He  believed  in  some  wondrous  and  mighty  God. 

But  it  is  only  where  the  truth  "  as  truth  is  in  Jesus  " 
is  known  that  the  way  is  prepared  for  the  fuller  enlight- 
ening and  sanctifying  work  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  not  of 
conviction  under  the  darkness  of  unbroken  paganism, 
but  of  conviction  under  the  gospel,  that  Jesus  speaks, 
when  he  says  that  the  Spirit,  "  when  he  is  come,"  will 
convict  of  sin.  Compare  this  Christian  conviction,  in 
clearness,  depth,  and  power,  with  the  sense  of  sin  where 
Christ  is  not  known.  It  would  be  to  compare  the  sun- 
shine with  the  twinkling  light  of  far-away  stars. 

*  Confessions,"  iv,  18. 


283  VISION  AND  POWER 


II 


Does  it  seem  strange  that  the  power  of  our  salvation 
should  rest  in  a  person?  For  that  it  does  rest  in  a 
Person  there  can  be  no  doubt.  If  a  man  be  freed  from 
the  slavery  to  his  lower  self,  it  is  because  of  the  power 
in  him  of  the  almighty  Personal  Presence.  If  a  Chris- 
tian preacher's  ministry  be  an  effective  ministry  of 
deliverance  to  the  slaves  of  sin,  it  is  because  of  the  abid- 
ing in  it  of  that  same  almighty  Personal  Presence. 
Take  this  truth  out  of  either  the  Hebrew  or  the  Chris- 
tian Scriptures,  and  there  is  nothing  of  supreme  value 
left. 

When  Jehovah  sends  Moses  forth  to  the  humanly  im- 
possible task  of  establishing  his  kingdom  in  Israel,  the 
word  is,  "  I  will  be  with  thee."  When  Christ  sends 
forth  his  Church  to  establish  his  kingdom  in  all  the 
world,  the  word  of  assurance  is  the  same,  "  Lo,  I  am 
with  you  always."  The  power  by  which  men,  through 
whatever  mediation  it  may  reach  them,  are  personally 
saved  and  equipped  for  service  is  the  personal  touch, 
the  life-imparting  presence,  of  God  himself. 

Indeed,  it  would  seem  that  we  can  form  no  other 
idea  of  power — or  cause,  which  is  the  same  thing — than 
that  of  personality.  All  power  is  personal  power.  Shall 
we  think  of  this  for  a  little  while?  Out  here  in  the 
world  of  nature  are  two  great  facts:  namely,  physical 
objects  and  power  (or,  as  it  is  usually  called  in  this 
connection,  force).  We  know  physical  objects  by  the 
senses.     One  has  but  to  open  one's  eyes  and  see  them, 


POWER  OF  THE  INDWELLING  SPIRIT     283 

or  reach  forth  one's  hand  and  touch  them.  And  we 
know  force,  or  cause,  or  power — how?  Certainly  not 
by  the  senses.  It  cannot  be  seen  or  touched.  It  has 
no  shape  or  size  or  colour.  It  would  utterly  elude  the 
keenest  microscopic  observation.  But  when,  as  is  the 
case  continually,  we  see  a  physical  object  moving  from 
place  to  place  or  in  any  way  changing  its  form,  there 
arises  in  our  minds  not  only  an  idea  of  motion  or  change, 
but  the  very  different  idea  of  force,  cause,  power.  We 
say.  Something  makes  it  move.  Whence  does  such  an 
idea  come?  The  only  reasonable  way  to  account  for 
it  is  that  it  is  given  by  our  consciousness  of  ourselves 
and  our  own  doings.  That  is  to  say,  it  is  given  by 
one's  experience  of  force,  cause,  power,  in  one's  own 
person. 

To  take  the  simplest  sort  of  illustration,  we  are  con- 
scious, say,  of  the  not  unfamiliar  experience  of  choos- 
ing to  throw  a  stone.  Then  follows  an  experience 
which  has  been  named  effort,  exertion,  the  putting  forth 
of  will-power  in  a  certain  direction.  Nobody  can  de- 
scribe it,  though  everybody  knows  it.  Following  this 
experience,  forth  flies  the  stone  from  the  hand.  Thus 
by  personal  consciousness  of  what,  taking  place  in  our- 
selves, is  the  cause  of  certain  external  events,  we  spon- 
taneously come  by  the  idea  of  force,  cause,  power.  Then 
we  apply  this  idea  to  the  motions  and  changes,  with 
which  we  have  nothing  to  do,  that  are  continually  going 
on  in  the  natural  world. 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  without  this  con- 
sciousness of  will-power,  we  should  ever  have  any  such 
idea  as  that  of  power.     There  would  be  no  personal 


^84  VISION  AND  POWER 

experience  to  give  it  birth.  In  a  word,  if,  in  the  last 
analysis,  power  as  we  know  it  in  ourselves  is  will,  we 
may  reasonably  believe  that  power  as  we  see  the  signs 
of  it  outside  ourselves  is  also  will — is  the  creative  will 
of  him  after  whose  likeness  we  are  made.  As  Mar- 
tineau  has  tersely  put  it :  "  Since  we  have  to  assume 
causality  for  all  things,  and  the  only  causality  we 
know  is  that  of  living  mind,  that  type  has  no  legitimate 
competitor."  * 

Such  a  conclusion  is  a  child  of  the  reason;  and  in 
manifest  harmony  with  it  is  the  Biblical  teaching.  For 
the  Scripture,  as  we  have  seen,  speaks  of  the  presence 
of  God's  personal  creative  and  renewing  power  in  nature 
from  the  beginning,  through  all  seasons  and  centuries. 

Tens  of  thousands  of  young  men  are  ordained  to  the 
Christian  ministry  with  the  use  of  a  prayer  taken  from 
that  noble  mediaeval  hymn,  Veni,  Creator  Spiritus, 
which  begins  with  a  reference  to  the  brooding  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  as  told  in  the  second  verse  of  the  Bible, 
upon  a  formless  and  empty  earth — 

"  Creator  Spirit,  by  whose  aid 
The  earth's  foundations  first  were  laid." 

Let  it  remind  the  newly  set-apart  minister  of  the  Church 
that  the  Eternal  Power  to  whom  he  must  ever  look 
for  the  new  birth  of  souls  under  his  ministry  was  in 
the  world  of  nature  at  the  beginning  as  the  ultimate 
cause  and  giver  of  order,  beauty,  and  life — the  God  of 
nature  and  of  the  human  soul,  then  and  now  and  always. 

"  The  Spirit  of  God  hath  made  me, 
And  the  breath  of  the  Almighty  giveth  me  life." 

*  "  Materialism,  Theology  and  Religion,"  p.  39. 


POWER  OF  THE  INDWELLING  SPIRIT     285 

But  the  Scriptures  speak  of  the  Spirit  of  God  chiefly 
not  as  God  in  nature,  but  as  God  in  man,  and  of  his 
work  as  that  of  spiritual  illumination  and  renewal — 
in  the  New  Testament,  indeed,  exclusively  so.  God 
in  nature  renews  the  face  of  the  earth,  that  it  may 
bring  forth  its  proper  fruits  of  seed  for  the  sower  and 
bread  for  the  eater;  God  in  man  renews  the  innermost 
springs  of  conduct,  that  they  may  bring  forth  fruits 
of  faith  and  hope  and  love,  which  are  the  fruits  of 
the  Spirit.  And  here  the  name  of  this  almighty  Spirit, 
when  a  descriptive  word  is  added,  is  the  ''  Holy  Spirit." 
It  tells  that  he  is  the  Spirit  of  holiness,  and  that  his 
work  in  the  human  heart  is  a  work  of  cleansing  and 
perfecting.  "  It  is  written.  Ye  shall  be  holy,  for  I  am 
holy."  *  Which  seems  both  an  imperative  and  a  prom- 
ise of  the  Father. 

And  no  promise  could  more  completely  fit  the  need 
of  the  soul.  "  Follow  after  .  .  .  the  sanctification," 
says  the  letter  to  the  Hebrews,  "  without  which  no  man 
shall  see  the  Lord."  How,  then,  shall  we  follow  after 
and  attain  unto  this  sanctification,  this  holiness,  this 
likeness  to  the  Lord,  which  shall  make  us  meet  to  see 
him  as  he  is  in  glory  ?  By  contact  and  communion  with 
him  who  is  holy.  Which  is  to  say,  by  yielding  our- 
selves up  to  possession  by  the  indwelling  Holy  Spirit. 

Ill 

So,  therefore,  the  visible  environment  of  man  is,  as 
Dr.  A.  M.  Fairbairn  has  reminded  us,  twofold,  namely, 
nature,  which  is  intelligible,  and  human  society,  which 

•I  Peter   1:16. 


286  VISION  AND  POWER 

is  rational  and  moral ;  and  "  the  invisible  Environment, 
the  common  background  of  both,  is  the  Spirit  whose 
thought  has  been  aiming  in  each  and  through  each  at 
ever  fuller  and  more  adequate  expression." 

Not  for  a  moment,  however,  are  we  to  suppose  that 
that  almighty  Spirit  is  with  the  human  soul  just  as 
with  the  rocks  and  waters  and  trees  and  with  "  all 
manner  of  four-footed  beasts  and  creeping  things  of  the 
earth  and  fowls  of  the  heaven  " ;  or,  for  that  matter,  that 
he  is  with  the  human  soul  just  as  with  the  human 
body.  No;  there  is  a  difference  heaven-wide.  The 
Spirit  of  God  brooded  upon  "  the  face  of  the  waters  " 
in  the  beginning  and  broods  over  the  whole  earth  even 
now,  according  to  his  ways — the  "  laws  "  of  nature — 
with  a  world  of  things,  which  cannot  come  into  spiritual 
sympathy  and  communion  with  him.  He  broods  over 
the  soul,  according  to  his  ways — the  "  laws  "  of  spirit 
— with  a  world  of  persons,  who  can  and  may  come  into 
spiritual  sympathy  and  communion  with  him. 

The  farmer  makes  his  farm.  But  for  him  it  would 
not  be.  He  diligently  protects  it  from  injury.  He  cuts 
down  a  wood,  clears  out  the  underbrush,  ploughs,  and 
sows,  and  gathers  the  harvest  into  the  barn  that  he  has 
builded.  He  pastures  his  cows  and  drives  his  team. 
But  in  one  of  his  buildings  our  farmer  has  made  him- 
self a  home,  and  lives  there  with  his  family.  And 
he  gives  himself  to  them — in  just  the  same  way  as  to 
the"  farm  outside  ?  Very  far  from  it.  He  is,  -  to  be 
sure,  present  to  his  little  outside  world,  but  present 
to  the  dwellers  in  his  little  inside  world  with  a  different 
sort  of  nearness.      These  partake  of  his  own  higher 


POWER  OF  THE  INDWELLING  SPIRIT     287 

nature,  and  so  can  understand  him,  sympathize  with 
his  plans  and  purposes,  enter  into  fellowship  with  him. 
He  likes  his  farm,  he  loves  his  family.  It  is  a  pic- 
ture of  God  in  his  world  of  nature  and  of  souls. 

"  In  Him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being " 
in  the  natural  life:  this  is  what  philosophy  would  call 
the  Divine  immanence.  "  In  Him  we  live  and  move 
and  have  our  being  "  in  the  spiritual  life :  this  "  Diviner 
immanence,"  as  Bishop  T.  J.  McConnell,  in  his  fine 
little  book  with  that  title,  has  termed  it,  is  what  Chris- 
tianity would  call  the  perpetual  presence  and  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

Therefore,  let  no  one  either  fear  or  hope  that  the 
presence  and  working  of  the  Spirit  will  break  down 
the  moral  freedom  of  the  soul.  He  instructs,  he  per- 
suades, he  is  grieved,  he  strives;  he  does  not  maim 
or  destroy.  It  cannot  be  otherwise  than  that  God 
shall  have  respect  to  the  personality  which  he  has 
created,  the  moral  freedom  which  he  has  breathed 
into  the  soul.  It  is  shown  to  be  so  in  almost  the  very 
first  story  of  human  sin,  where  Jehovah  is  heard  say- 
ing to  Cain :  "  Why  art  thou  wroth  ?  and  why  is  thy 
countenance  fallen  ?  If  thou  doest  well,  shalt  thou  not 
be  accepted  ?  and  if  thou  doest  not  well,  sin  coucheth  at 
the  door." — God  reasoning  with  even  a  bad-hearted 
man.  Divine  power  rests  upon  us  not  as  upon  the 
subhuman  creation,  the  "  trees  of  the  Lord,"  the  cattle 
on  a  thousand  hills,  which  are  his,  but  as  upon  moral 
intelligences.  He  would  have  us  freely  to  choose  his 
service;  they  cannot.  He  would  hold  converse  with 
us ;  they  could  neither  speak  to  him  nor  hear  his  voice. 


288  VISION  AND  POWER 

True,  there  is  much  going  on  at  every  moment,  in 
both  body  and  soul,  altogether  apart  from  any  choice 
of  ours.  Aptly  has  it  been  said :  "  The  heart  is  a  la- 
bourer to  whom  we  pay  no  wages,  with  whom  we  hold 
no  conversation,  who  gets  his  orders  elsewhere,  who 
elects  to  work,  and  at  the  end  to  cease  to  work,  with- 
out any  say  of  ours  in  the  matter."  Put  a  finger  on 
your  wrist  and  count  the  heart-beats — say,  seventy  a 
minute,  100,800  a  day — and  still  the  untiring  heart 
beats  on  for  seventy  years,  quite  independent  of  your 
will. 

"  No  rest  that  throbbing  slave  can  ask, 
Forever  quivering  o'er  his  task." 

But  these  quivering  hearts  are  no  slaves  of  ours,  if  by 
such  a  word  we  mean  that  they  are  doing  their  appointed 
task  under  our  direction  and  control.  Indeed,  what 
direction  and  control  have  we  of  the  vastly  larger  part 
of  the  ongoings  of  life  within  us?  What  power  have 
we  to  turn  food  into  flesh  ?  Where  is  the  child  of  genius 
that  can  either  create  or  prevent  such  continual  experi- 
ences as  sensation,  ideas,  emotions?  What  will-power 
of  ours  is  enabling  us  to  pass,  instant  by  instant,  from 
this  or  that  vibration  of  the  brain  into  a  state  of  con- 
sciousness— which  acknowledges  no  kinship  whatever  to 
a  state  of  vibration. 

Then,  too,  heredity,  bringing  much  that  is  good,  also 
lays  various  disabling  burdens  upon  us.  The  genera- 
tion of  to-day,  inheriting,  as  it  does,  bodily  health  and 
moral  capacity  from  its  forbears  through  immemorial 
ages — incalculable  its  debt  to  them — has  likewise  fallen 
heir  to  their  depravities  of  body  and  of  spirit. 


POWER  OF  THE  INDWELLING  SPIRIT     289 

Nevertheless,  here  we  stand,  living  our  life  this  hour 
as  persons,  which  is  to  say,  morally  free.  The  doors 
of  knowledge  and  of  feeling  may  be  opened  from  with- 
out as  well  as  from  within — by  others'  hands  as  well 
as  by  our  own.  But  the  door  of  will  can  be  opened  from 
within  only — by  our  own  hands  or  not  at  all.  The  signs 
of  it  are  unquestionable.  Upon  the  assumption  of  it, 
the  whole  social  and  moral  life  of  the  world  is  lived. 
Whether  it  be  acknowledged  in  so  many  words  or  not, 
everybody  demonstrates  it  practically — like  that  son  of 
common  sense  in  the  days  of  old  who,  when  a  certain 
philosopher  proved  unanswerably  that  such  a  thing  as 
motion  is  impossible,  showed  the  opposite  by  simply 
rising  up  and  walking. 

How  much  is  it,  then,  that  God  has  given  us  to 
determine  by  his  grace  for  ourselves?  It  is,  chiefly, 
something  in  comparison  with  which  all  other  things 
are  as  vanity  and  nothing.  He  has  given  us  our  moral 
conduct  to  determine;  which  means  our  character; 
which  means  our  personal  greatness  or  littleness,  blessed- 
ness or  misery,  salvation  or  condemnation. 

"  The  sweet  persuasion  of  His  voice 
Respects  thy  sanctity  of  will; 
He  giveth  day:   thou  hast  thy  choice 
To  walk  in  darkness  still." 

Present  with  man  in  his  freedom,  then,  is  the  Spirit 
of  truth.  Not  to  overbear  and  destroy,  he  is  here  to 
enlighten  the  understanding,  to  purify  the  affections, 
to  empower  the  will.  Not  to  hinder  the  action  of 
the  God-given  powers,  he  is  here  to  correct  their  aber- 
rations, and  to  work  together  with  them.     "  Whereupon 


290  VISION  AND  POWER 

I  labour  also,  striving  according  to  His  working  which 
worketh  in  me  mightily." 

IV 

With  respect  to  this  Divine  indwelling,  however, 
there  is  One  who  stands  quite  alone  in  the  history  of 
our  race.  In  the  sinless  Son  of  God  the  Spirit  could 
abide  continuously  and  in  the  infinitude  of  truth  and 
grace.  It  was  indicated  at  his  baptism  when  "  he  saw 
the  heavens  rent  asunder  and  the  Spirit  as  a  dove 
descending  upon  him,  and  a  voice  came  out  of  the 
heavens.  Thou  art  my  beloved  Son,  in  thee  I  am  well 
pleased,"  and  at  the  unapproachable  height  of  his  sacri- 
ficial suffering  and  service,  when  "  through  the  eternal 
Spirit "  he  "  offered  himself  without  blemish  unto 
God." 

Hence  the  Apostle  Paul  speaks  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
as  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  "  Ye  are  not  in  the  flesh  but 
in  the  Spirit,  if  so  be  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth 
in  you.  But  if  any  man  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
he  is  none  of  his."  "  Now  the  Lord  [Christ]  is  the 
Spirit." 

Moreover,  through  Christ — ^through  his  life,  his  grace 
and  truth,  his  sacrificial  love,  through  himself — this 
same  Spirit  may  be  given  to  the  receptive  soul.  On  the 
evening  of  the  first  Lord's  day,  "  when  the  doors  were 
shut  where  the  disciples  were,"  the  risen  Lord  appeared 
in  the  midst  of  them,  and  said :  "  Peace  be  unto  you : 
as  the  Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you." 
Then,  with  his  own  breath  as  an  accompanying  symbol, 
he  said  to  them,  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Spirit."    Also, 


POWER  OF  THE  INDWELLING  SPIRIT     291 

on  the  day  of  Pentecost  Peter  declared  that  the  won- 
drous power  of  the  Spirit  over  which  the  multitude 
were  marvelling  was  an  effusion  from  the  living  and 
glorified  Christ :  "  Being  therefore  by  the  right  hand 
of  God  exalted,  and  having  received  of  the  Father  the 
promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  He  hath  shed  forth  this 
which  ye  see  and  hear." 

Indeed,  did  not  Jesus  himself  foretell  such  an  event  ? 
Did  he  not  promise  the  disciples,  in  the  Upper  Room, 
that  after  his  withdrawal  from  the  sphere  of  their 
senses,  he  would  really  be  nearer  to  them  than  before  ? 
He  would  be  not  only  with  them  but  in  them.  For 
the  Spirit,  guiding  them  into  all  spiritual  truth,  would 
interpret  him  to  them,  explain  him,  reveal  him  to  them 
— "  He  shall  take  of  mine  and  shall  declare  it  unto 
you,"  "  He  shall  glorify  me."  Thus,  in  the  Spirit  he 
would  indeed  come  to  them,  and  abide  in  them  ever- 
more. 

'Note,  then,  the  epoch-making  significance  of  the  Pen- 
tecostal baptism  of  the  Spirit.  It  was  "  no  detached 
wonder."  It  meant,  to  be  sure,  that  Jesus'  first  wit- 
nesses must  be  spiritually  qualified  for  their  mission; 
but  in  connection  with  that,  it  had  a  much  larger  mean- 
ing. It  meant  that  the  new  and  foreseen  era  of  the 
Spirit's  truth  and  power  had  come.  For  now  that 
Christ,  Revealer  and  Redeemer,  had  lived  his  life  among 
men,  had  laid  it  down  in  atoning  sacrifice  and  taken  it 
again  in  glory,  the  Eternal  Spirit,  who  had  been  in 
the  world  of  nature  and  of  men  from  the  beginning, 
could  for  the  first  time  interpret  and  apply  to  the  be- 
lieving heart  the  accomplished  facts  of  redemption.    He 


292  VISION  AND  POWER 

could  interpret  and  apply  the  sacrificial  life  and  death 
of  Jesus.  Impossible  before,  it  could  now  be  done. 
What  Jesus  was,  what  his  words,  his  acts,  his  cross,  and 
resurrection  meant,  could  now  be  made  known  by  the 
Spirit  of  truth.  Thus  could  be  imparted  a  deeper 
knowledge,  a  larger  life,  a  more  Christlike  mind,  than 
was  possible  before  God  was  revealed  in  the  Son  of 
his  love. 

Is  not  this,  then,  what  is  meant  by  the  fulness,  the 
plenary  baptism,  of  the  Spirit,  which  was  not  given  till 
Jesus  was  glorified  ? 


Such  is  the  significance  of  Pentecost;  and  we  are  in 
no  danger  of  estimating  it  too  highly.  It  may  be  truly 
called  "  the  consummation  of  our  Lord's  life  on  earth." 
It  marks  with  its  tongues  of  fire  the  fulness  of  spiritual 
vision  and  power  in  Christ — its  fulness  and  its  per- 
petuity. Wonderful  were  the  days  of  the  Son  of  Man, 
all  alone  in  their  perfect  expression  of  the  heart  of 
God — in  speech,  deed,  spirit,  suffering  and  conquering 
love  for  us  men  and  our  salvation.  Will  they  ever 
return?  Not  they  themselves;  but  their  fulfilment  is 
now,  and  is  coming  evermore.  For  the  Spirit's  inter- 
pretation of  the  Risen  Lord,  renewal  of  the  heart  in 
his  likeness,  guidance  into  all  the  truth — this  Divine 
administration  is  not  for  one  generation  only  but  for 
this  whole  world-age. 

Christianity,  then,  is  the  religion — shall  we  say,  of 
Jesus  Christ  ?    Yes,  but  of  Jesus  Christ  as  interpreted, 


POWER  OF  THE  INDWELLING  SPIRIT     293 

revealed,  made  intimately  near  the  believing  and  obe- 
dient soul  by  the  Spirit, 

N"ow,  therefore,  it  is  in  this  age  of  the  redemption 
and  education  of  man,  affluent  as  it  is  in  gracious  gifts 
and  opportunities,  that  the  preacher  of  our  own  time 
goes  forth  to  the  ministry  whereunto  he  is  called.  How 
may  we  conceive  of  the  secret  of  his  power  ?  In  the 
opening  paragraph  of  the  Epistle  to  "  the  elect  who 
are  sojourners  of  the  Dispersion,"  Peter  answers  the 
question.  Speaking  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ  and 
the  glories  that  followed,  he  says :  "  Which  now  have 
been  announced  to  you  through  them  that  preach  the 
gospel  unto  you  by  [or,  w]  the  Holy  Spirit  sent  forth 
from  heaven."  Here,  then,  is  the  "  mystery,"  the  un- 
veiled secret,  of  pulpit  power — "  preached  the  gospel 
unto  you  hy  the  Holy  Spirit  sent  forth  from  heaven." 

Surely  if  ever  a  man  was  prepared  to  teach  such 
a  truth,  it  was  Simon  Peter,  this  first  Christian  preacher. 
For  if  ever  a  man  had  reason  to  know  it  in  personal 
experience,  it  was  he.  Imagine  him  preaching  the 
gospel  before  Pentecost !  But  the  ascending  Saviour 
had  said :  "  Ye  shall  receive  power  when  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  come  upon  you."  And  when,  in  less  than 
two  weeks,  the  promise  was  fulfilled,  see  this  same 
disciple  of  Jesus,  "  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit,"  de- 
claring to  the  faithless  house  of  Israel :  "  God  hath 
made  him  both  Lord  and  Christ,  this  Jesus  whom  ye 
crucified."  The  people,  cut  to  the  heart,  are  crying, 
"  What  shall  we  do  ?  "  and  there  are  added  to  the  one 
little  Christian  congregation  about  three  thousand  souls. 
Well   might    such   a   preacher   write   of   "  them   that 


294j  vision  and  POWER 

preached  the  gospel  unto  you  hy  the  Holy  Spirit/*  And 
well  might  the  book  of  Acts  have  been  called  in  the 
early  Church  "  the  Gospel  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

VI 

Shall  we  meditate  upon  the  way  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel?  Let  us  at  least  ask  why  it 
is  that  he  should  reach  the  heart  with  his  heavenly 
power  through  evangelic  truth  and  the  preacher's 
personality. 

First,  Why  through  evangelic  truth?  Here  again 
Peter  answers  our  question.  For  when  he  reminds  his 
readers  that  the  facts  of  redemption,  the  sufferings  and 
the  glory  of  Christ,  were  "  announced  "  to  them  by  the 
preachers  of  the  gospel,  it  is  suggested  that  these  facts 
of  redemption  were  not  a  creation  of  the  preacher  him- 
self. He  was  only  their  announcer.  They  were  Divine 
facts ;  they  were  the  truth  of  Christ ;  they  were  words 
of  the  Eternal  Word  who  was  in  the  beginning  with 
God  and  who  was  God.  "  If  any  man  speaketh,"  says 
oursame  Apostle,  "speaking  as  it  were  oracles  of  God."''*" 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  such  a  message  as  that  should 
be  illumined  and  enforced  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  Chris- 
tian preaching?  It  is  the  veritable  instrument  of  his 
power — the  seed  of  Divine  truth,  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit. 

VII 

Secondly,  why  should  the  Spirit  reach  the  heart 
through  the  preacher's  personality  ?    Here  we  have  only 

*I  Peter,  4:11. 


POWER  OF  THE  INDWELLING  SPIRIT     295 

to  bear  in  mind  what  this  personality  is.  It  is  that  of 
"  a  man  in  Christ."  It  is  that  of  a  man  through  whom 
Christ  would  utter  himself  to  men.  It  is  the  evangel 
of  Jesus  embodied  in  a  person,  shining  forth  in  an 
individual  life,  and  thus  making  appeal  through  a  man 
to  his  fellow-men. 

Think  of  a  preacher  in  the  act  of  highest  self- 
expression  in  the  pulpit,  his  mind  saturated  with  a 
sacred  theme,  his  heart  uplifted  to  the  Source  of  spir- 
itual power  and  at  the  same  time  drawn  close  in 
sympathy  to  the  souls  of  men.  What  a  joy  it  is  now 
to  preach!  There  is  a  freedom  and  rapture  of  utter- 
ance, as  if  his  words  were  spoken  through  him  by 
Another.  Mastered  by  a  great  conviction,  he  was  never 
so  free.  Conscious  of  weakness,  he  is  girded  with 
strength.  Losing  himself,  he  is  most  truly  at  him- 
self. Speaking  for  Christ,  self-committed  to  him,  with 
the  inward  prayer,  "  That  thou  mayest  be  glorified," 
he  speaks  with  his  own  voice  indeed,  but  not  by  his 
own  unaided  effort.  Very  tenderly  he  speaks,  with  a 
word  in  season  to  him  that  is  weary,  but  boldly  withal, 
as  he  ought  to  speak. 

And  the  people  respond,  perhaps  with  one  mind  and 
heart,  as  to  a  man  inwardly  possessed  and  swayed  by 
the  God-given  message  falling  from  his  lips. 

Shall  not  this  humanized  truth,  then,  be  a  medium 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  the  sin-smitten  soul  ?  "  By  the 
manifestation  of  the  truth  commending  ourselves"' — 
the  truth  as  embodied  in  ourselves — "  to  every  man's 
conscience  in  the  sight  of  God." 


296  VISION  AND  POWER 


vni 


I  trust  that  we  may  see  truly.  But  it  is  certain  that 
even  the  most  illumined  New  Testament  prophets  knew 
and  prophesied  only  in  part.  Thanks  be  unto  God 
for  the  assurance  of  a  fuller  revelation  when  that  which 
is  perfect  shall  have  come.  Meantime  the  doer  of 
the  Heavenly  Father's  will  shall  have  light  enough  to 
walk  and  work  by.  Nor  is  it  an  idle  benediction  when 
the  apostolic  minister  blesses  the  people,  praying  that 
they  may  have  "  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

"  Then  Peter,  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  said  unto 
them  "  *  (unto  the  assembled  Sanhedrin) — and  no  won- 
der that  his  words  were  with  power  even  upon  the 
hardened  minds  of  his  unbelieving  judges.  "  For  it 
is  not  ye  that  speak,"  said  the  Master,  "  but  the  Spirit 
of  your  Father  that  speaketh  in  you."  Think  of  such 
a  possibility  in  one's  own  life.  "  Filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit :  "  it  is  the  supreme  equipment  for  the  min- 
istry of  preaching  to  any  audience  anywhere. 

But  just  how  that  Spirit  of  the  living  God  touches, 
quickens,  inspires  the  spirit  of  man,  who  would  ask 
to  know  ?  One  had  as  well  aspire  to  discover  how  that 
same  Spirit  brought  out  of  the  primitive  waste  of 
waters  the  earth  which  is  our  happy  and  fruitful  home 
this  day.  Frederick  Robertson,  describing  the  birth 
of  a  great  human  friendship,  speaks  of  a  time  "  when, 
as  it  were,  moving  about  in  the  darkness  and  loneli- 
ness of  existence,  we  suddenly  come  into  contact  with 

*Act3  4:8-13. 


POWER  OF  THE  INDWELLING  SPIRIT     297 

something,  and  we  find  that  spirit  has  touched  spirit." 
Through  the  mediation  of  some  physical  sign,  a  beam- 
ing eye,  a  voice,  a  hand-grasp,  one  human  spirit  has 
touched  another,  and  there  may  result  "  the  mystic 
blending  of  two  souls  in  one."  Shall  not  the  Eternal 
Spirit  have  power  to  touch  the  spirit  which  he  has  made, 
to  hear  its  voice  and  to  renew  its  life? 

Remember,  no  thinker,  nor  any  mind  of  any  order, 
can  tell  the  genesis  of  his  thoughts.  Out  of  a  vast 
Unknown  they  enter,  under  certain  physical  circum- 
stances, into  the  little  but  wonderful  sphere  of  his 
present  consciousness;  and  that  is  about  all  that  he 
can  tell. 

Men  speak  of  the  world's  rare  geniuses  as  being 
original;  but  there  is  none  of  these  gifted  spirits  that 
can  describe  the  origination  of  his  ideas.  How  did  the 
mind  get  hold  of  them  ?  whence  came  they  ?  out  of 
what  depths  did  they  arise  ?  "  In  the  stillness  of 
meditation  thought  bursts  into  flame  " — true  enough, 
but  what  is  this  thought-burst  ?  More  than  one  writer 
doubtless  has  been  ready  to  say  as  did  Thackeray  con- 
cerning his  own  best  thoughts :  "  I  have  no  idea  where 
it  all  comes  from ;  I  am  often  astounded  myself  to  read 
it  after  I  have  got  it  down  on  paper." 

We  are  told  that  Haydn,  musical  genius  and  devout 
Christian,  declared  concerning  the  chorus  in  his  ora- 
torio of  the  Creation :  "  ISTot  from  me  but  from  above  it 
all  came."  It  was  in  such  a  spirit,  indeed,  that  the 
whole  of  this  greatest  of  the  great  composer's  oratorios 
seems  to  have  been  wrought  out.  "  I  fell  on  my  knees 
daily,"  he  says,   "  and  prayed  earnestly  to  God  that 


2&8  VISION  AND  POWER 

he  would  grant  me  strength  to  carry  out  the  work,  and 
to  praise  him  worthily."  It  suggests  the  faith  and 
humility  of  the  forerunner  of  Jesus :  "  A  man  can 
receive  nothing  except  it  have  been  given  him  from 
heaven."  It  is  the  Christian's  faith  with  respect  to 
that  spiritual  mind  which  is  the  highest  and  best  in 
his  own  inner  life — 

"  And  every  virtue  we  possess, 
And  every  victory  won, 
And  every  thought  of  holiness 
Are  Thine  alone." 

The  true  and  holy  thought,  the  spiritual  insight,  the 
Christward  aspiration,  are  they  ours?  They  are  ours, 
the  speech  of  our  own  souls,  but  through  God's  own 
speech  in  the  soul.  They  are  his;  they  are  ours;  and 
we  have  no  power  to  separate  in  our  thinking  between 
what  is  human  in  them  and  what  is  Divine. 

Take  as  a  most  suggestive  example  one  of  the  Apostle 
Paul's  inspired  utterances  on  the  witness  of  the  Spirit : 
"  Because  ye  are  sons,  God  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his 
Son  into  our  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father."  But  how 
is  this  ?  One  might  say :  "  I  thought  it  was  the  Chris- 
tian himself  who  had  the  filial  feeling  toward  God  and 
cried  to  him.  Father."  What,  then,  can  the  meaning 
be  when  we  are  told  that  it  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  the 
Spirit  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  cries  to  him,  "  Father  "  ? 
Is  this  voice  of  sonship  both  the  Spirit's  voice  and 
our  own?  It  is  so  indeed,  both  his  and  ours.  It  is 
ours  because  we  have  it,  and  his  because  he  inspires 
it.  For  it  did  not  originate  with  us.  It  is  an  in- 
breathing of  the  Spirit.     It  is  by  him  that  the  filial 


POWER  OF  THE  INDWELLING  SPIRIT     299 

voice  toward  God  is  awakened  in  us,  and  hence  the 
apostle  speaks  of  it  as  the  Spirit's  own  voice — the  Spirit 
of  God's  Son  in  our  hearts  crying  "  Father." 

"  Draw  if  thou  canst  the  mystic  line 
Severing  rightly  His  from  thine, 
Which  is  human,  which  Divine." 

IX 

There  is  nothing  that  lies  nearer  to  many  a  Chris- 
tian pastor's  heart  than  a  genuine  revival  in  his  con- 
gregation. On  what  conditions  may  the  desire  of  his 
heart  be  realized?  Volumes,  replete  with  the  teach- 
ings of  Scripture  and  of  modern  experience,  and  vibrant 
with  stirring  appeals,  have  been  written  on  the  subject. 
Meetings  are  to  be  held — and  how  best  conducted  ? 
Much  personal  work  with  individuals  is  to  be  done — 
zealously,  tactfully.  There  must  be  plans,  expedients, 
methods.  But  amid  it  all  the  wise  pastor  and  the 
evangelistic  Church  will  ever  have  in  mind  that 
Divine  method  through  which  revival  power  is  always 
available.  It  is  no  recently  discovered  method,  but 
as  old  as  the  Church  itself,  and  as  familiar,  at  least 
to  the  ears  of  a  Christian  congregation,  as  the  apostolic 
benediction.  We  know  quite  well  that  it  is  no  other 
than  "  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

And  into  this  life-giving  communion,  not  some  select 
class  but  all  who  will  may  enter.  Observe,  it  is  not 
a  matter  of  human  wish  or  expectation,  which  may  or 
may  not  be  fulfilled,  but  of  God's  word,  his  will,  his 
law.  There  is  a  "  law  of  sin  and  death,"  which  is 
this :  "  If  ye  live  after  the  flesh,  ye  shall  die."    There  is 


300  VISION  AND  POWER 

also  "  a  law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,"  and 
it  is  this :  "  If  by  the  Spirit  ye  mortify  the  deeds  of 
the  body,  ye  shall  live.'  For  here  is  the  kingdom  of 
the  Heavenly  Father  with  whom  is  no  blind  force,  on 
the  one  hand,  nor  any  variableness  and  uncertainty,  on 
the  other.  All  is  personal  and  all  is  sure.  The  law 
is  holy  and  inexorable  love. 

A  church,  therefore,  on  its  knees,  repentant,  trust- 
ing, making  supplication  according  to  the  will  of  God — 
entering  thus  into  the  communion  of  the  Spirit — must 
be  recipient  of  spiritual  power.  It  must  be  quick- 
ened unto  newness  of  life. 

And  such  a  revival  will  not  be  something  apart  from 
the  regular  life  and  work  of  the  church,  but  an  intensi- 
fication of  that  life  in  preacher  and  people.  "  So  the 
church  .  .  .  walking  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  and  in 
the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  was  multiplied/' 

Thou  ever-present  Spirit,  may  we  not  turn  here  and 
there  in  search  of  thee.  Create  within  us  the  willing 
mind,  the  responsive  heart.  May  we  let  go  every  evil 
thing,  the  idol,  the  bad  temper,  the  bad  practice,  that 
would  hinder  thy  abiding  in  our  inmost  self.  So 
shall  we  have  thee,  even  thee  thyself,  thou  Light  of 
light,  for  our  teacher,  and  be  clad  from  thee  with  the 
garment  of  power. 


XIV 
EFFECTS  OF  POWER 

For  they  heard  them  speak  with  tongues  and  magnify 
God.— Acts  10:46. 

And  he  commanded  them  to  be  baptized  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ.  Then  prayed  they  him  to  tarry  certain 
days. — Acts  10:  48. 

Then  to  the  Gentiles  also  hath  God  granted  repent- 
ance unto  life. — Acts  11: 18. 

THE  Christian  preacher's  desire  and  prayer  to 
God  is  that  he  may  have  an  effective  ministry — 
a  ministry  of  effects. 
True,  he  is  not  to  grow  impatient  or  disheartened  at 
the  delay  of  visible  effects.  It  becomes  him,  like  any 
shepherd  of  souls  in  any  age,  to  consent  that  this  min- 
istry to  the  innermost  life  shall  prove  to  be  a  work  of 
faith  and  a  patience  of  hope.  Let  Adoniram  Judson, 
to  take  a  classic  instance,  labour  for  years  in  heathen 
Burmah  with  almost  no  success.  Let  him  be  imprisoned 
and  bound  with  fetters,  in  excruciating  pain,  under 
cruel  keepers.  He  may  still  have  the  heart  to  reply, 
with  the  sublime  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ,  when  asked 
what  in  his  judgment  are  the  missionary  prospects, 
"  As  bright  as  the  promises  of  God."  Out  upon  whin- 
ing and  gloom! 

"  Be  strong ! 
It  matters  not  how  deep  intrenched  the  wrong, 
How  hard  the  battle  goes,  the  day  how  long; 
Faint  not,  fight  on !    To-morrow  comes  the  song." 

301 


302  VISION  AND  POWER 

Even  though  the  "  to-morrow  "  with  its  triumphant 
song  should  be  theirs  who  shall  come  after  us  and  not 
our  very  own,  what  of 'that?  To-day  with  its  battle  is 
the  principal  thing;  and  this  is  ours,  graciously  given 
of  God.  Six  or  seven  years  did  Robert  Morrison,  the 
pioneer  evangelic  missionary  in  China,  wait  for  his 
first  Christian  convert.  Last  summer,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  secretary, 
George  Sherwood  Eddy,  held  meetings  there  for  stu- 
dents, business  men,  women,  boys,  and  others,  out  of 
which  came  thousands  of  enquirers  for  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  and  Christianity.  Was  it  Eddy's  achieve- 
ment, or  Morrison's  of  a  hundred  years  before,  or  was 
it  the  Lord's  achievement  through  the  succession  of  his 
faithful  representatives  in  that  ancient  and  wonderful 
non-Christian  land?  And  whose  is  this  to-morrow, 
awaiting  still  greater  yet  to  come,  with  its  victors'  song 
of  joy  and  praise  ?  Together  shall  the  earlier  and  the 
later  workers  and  warriors  of  Christ  rejoice. 

Nevertheless,  the  bravest  and  most  faithful  soul  is 
still  "  human."  Oftentimes  his  burden  is  heavy.  He 
craves  approval  and  is  pained  by  apparent  lack  of  suc- 
cess. He  wants  to  see  Christian  converts,  changed 
lives,  the  growth  of  souls,  multiplied  Christian  work- 
ers, under  his  ministry. 

Needless  to  say,  it  was  so  with  such  a  one  as  "  Paul, 
an  apostle  of  Christ  Jesus  by  the  will  of  God."  "  I 
am  perplexed  about  you,"  we  see  him  writing  to  his 
churches  in  Galatia.  He  had  given  himself  to  them 
without  stint  as  minister  and  friend.  They  had  begun 
well,  "  begun  in  the  Spirit " ;  but  now  with  their  ob- 


EFFECTS  OF  POWER  303 

servance  of  "  days  and  months  and  seasons  and  years  " 
— trusting  an  outworn  ritual  for  salvation — ^they  seemed 
to  have  fallen  away  from  the  saving  evangel  of  Christ. 
"  I  am  perplexed  about  you."  Worse  than  that,  he 
wrote,  "  I  am  afraid  of  you,  lest  by  any  means  I  have 
bestowed  labour  upon  you  in  vain." 

On  the  other  hand,  how  eagerly  did  the  strong-hearted 
apostle  welcome  the  comfort  and  strength  that  came 
to  him  and  his  fellow-workers  from  the  fruits  of  their 
ministry.  "  For  now  we  live  [life  is  for  us  life  in- 
deed] if  ye  stand  fast  in  the  Lord." 


Essential  Christianity  has  been  described  as  "  right 
relations  between  man  and  God  and  man  and  man,  to- 
gether with  the  power  to  create  them."  These,  at  least, 
are  two  notes  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  that  make  it 
incomparable  among  the  religions  of  the  world.  But 
this  or  that  Christian  preacher  may  be  in  doubt  whether, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  these  right  relations  are  being 
created  under  his  particular  ministrations.  Hear  him 
in  the  solitude  of  his  study,  this  bearer  of  the  last  and 
best  word  of  God  to  the  world,  meditatively  asking.  Is 
this  great  evangel  which  I  have  undertaken  to  preach 
truly  enlightening  the  people,  and,  together  with  the 
wisdom  it  gives  them,  is  there  a  Divine  creative  power 
really  relating  them  to  God  as  his  children  and  to  men 
as  their  brothers  in  Christ? 

But  the  answer  to  such  a  questioning  cannot  be 
thought  out  in  the  preacher's  study.  It  must  be  seen 
and  heard  in  the  human  life  about  him — in  the  congre- 


304  VISION  AND  POWER 

gation  to  which  he  ministers  and  the  community  in 
which  he  lives.  Seen  and  heard ;  for  though  the  answer 
relates  to  the  things  of  the  spirit,  it  is  given  in  sensible 
signs. 

When  a  playmate  of  my  childhood  was  told  that  a 
boy  friend  of  his  had  been  converted,  he  asked,  "  How 
will  John  look  ?  "  A  trivial  incident,  unworthy  of 
note  except  as  illustrating  the  instinctive  expectation 
that  a  person  shall  seem  what  he  is.  Let  him  show 
his  colours.  Let  him  look  like  himself.  My  inquisitive 
playmate,  one  may  be  sure,  did  not  discover  any  such 
preternatural  change  in  his  familiar  friend  as  he  had 
seemed  to  expect.  Yet  the  heart  of  his  enquiry  was 
the  too  little  pondered  truth  that  every  man,  whether 
he  wills  to  do  it  or  not,  is  continually  pronouncing 
judgment,  in  the  presence  of  other  people,  upon  him- 
self. His  spirit  will  speak  in  the  tones  of  his  voice. 
His  habit  of  thought  and  speech  will  write  itself  upon 
his  face.  "  Wouldn't  you  like  to  be  a  Christian  ?  "  said 
a  man  of  forbidding  countenance  to  the  author  of  "  The 
Song  of  the  Shirt."  "  No,"  was  the  witty  poet's  too 
caustic  reply,  "  not  if  it  makes  me  feel  as  you  look." 
How  would  a  perfect  Christian  be  likely  to  appear? 

Attaching  no  fanciful  or  undue  importance  to  mere 
facial  expression,  we  may  still  speak  quite  soberly  of 
the  soul  in  a  face.  Every  man's  soul  is  in  his  face, 
but  not  always  or  in  all  persons  equally  evident.  It  is 
there  at  times,  glowing  or  glowering,  in  quite  extraor- 
dinary self-revealment.  It  might  have  been  seen  on 
the  first  recorded  day  of  human  hate :  "  And  Cain  was 
very  wroth  and  his  countenance  fell :  "  it  was  seen  on  the 


EFFECTS  OF  POWER  305 

first  recorded  day  of  Christian  martyrdom :  "  And  all 
that  sat  in  the  council,  fastening  their  eyes  on  him, 
saw  his  face  as  it  had  been  the  face  of  an  angel." 

Verily  it  is  good  to  look  upon  a  habitually  joy- 
illumined  face.  "  When  he  rose  from  his  knees,"  said 
a  friend  of  the  worshipper,  "  I  saw  for  the  first  time 
the  significance  of  Pentecost.  The  weariness  had  gone. 
The  dark  care-lines  were  wiped  out.  The  face  was  all 
aglow  with  a  renewed  flame."  "  He  was  so  cheerful," 
says  Dr.  W.  T.  Grenfell  of  a  converted  Labrador  ruffian 
who  had  developed  through  his  faith  in  Christ  a  ruling 
passion  to  save  his  fellows, — "  he  was  so  cheerful  and 
so  uniformly  optimistic  that  his  very  face  became  trans- 
parent with  happiness."  Have  we  not  known  something 
of  this — 

"  Of  those  clear  souls  whose  shining  face 
Made  beauty  whensoe'er  they  came, 
Hearts  full  of  tenderest  love  and  grace. 
For  truth  and  right  a  glorious  flame?" 

It  is  especially  good  to  recognize  such  changes  of 
countenance  as  show  the  passing  of  the  cloud  of  doubt 
or  despondency,  under  the  light  of  faith  and  hope  and 
love.  One  such  instance  I  gratefully  remember.  A 
woman  of  mature  life,  in  a  rural  Christian  home,  had 
never  been  able  to  claim  for  herself  with  a  satisfying 
trust  the  forgiving  love  of  God.  The  lack  of  such 
assurance  had  clouded  her  life.  Despondency  had  be- 
come her  habitual  expression.  She  was  invited  to  at- 
tend a  meeting  to  be  held  in  the  neighbourhood.  "  I 
would  go,  if  I  thought  it  worth  while,"  was  the  reply. 
She  did  not  think  it  worth  while,  but  nevertheless  went. 


306  VISION  AND  POWER 

That  evening,  kneeling  at  a  rude  bench  in  a  meeting- 
house where  she  had  knelt,  apparently  in  vain,  more 
than  once  before,  she  found  the  Saviour  and — ^was 
transfigured.  She  looked  indeed  another  soul.  !N"ot 
only  that  evening  but  through  the  following  days  and 
months — so  far  as  I  could  learn,  ever  afterward — the 
light  of  peace  and  joy  rested  on  her  face.  Every  one 
remarked  the  change,  no  one  seemed  to  doubt  its  reality. 
It  was  at  the  beginning  of  my  ministry,  fifty-one  years 
ago;  and  the  only  apology  for  recording  it  here  is  the 
encouragement  of  that  daily  visible  "  sign  "  of  Divine 
power  in  even  a  preacher's  first  crude  endeavour  to 
minister  the  gospel  of  the  Light  of  the  world,  whom 
if  any  man  follow  he  shall  have  the  very  "  light  of 
life." 

II 

But  it  is  the  inner  eifects  of  the  Spirit's  power  rather 
than  their  outward  signs  that  are  chiefly  to  engage 
our  attention.  These,  as  already  suggested,  are  spir- 
itual states.  They  are  experiences,  conscious  disposi- 
tions, deepening  into  habits,  and  thus  becoming  holy 
character.  And  the  form  of  their  manifestation  is  not 
distinctively,  as  we  well  know,  in  one's  appearance, 
but  in  the  whole  course  of  one's  conduct.  Appearing 
thus  in  the  daily  life,  they  bear  witness  to  the  truth 
of  God's  own  life  of  holy  love  in  the  soul. 

"Note  the  teaching  of  a  familiar  precept  in  our  Lord's 
sermon  on  the  Mount :  "  Even  so," — namely,  as  a  lamp 
on  a  lamp-stand — "  let  your  light  shine  before  men ; 
that  they  may  see  your  good  works,  and  glorify  " — 


EFFECTS  OF  POWER  307 

not  you,  the  doer  of  the  good  works.  Not  that  others 
may  give  you  glory.  But  why  not  ?  Is  it  not,  as  Jesus 
said,  "  your  light  "  ?  Should  you  not  be  praised  for  the 
light  of  truth  and  goodness  that  may  shine  out  in  "  your 
good  works  "  ?  Ay,  in  a  sense ;  but  in  the  deeper  and 
Divine  sense,  No.  That  light  of  truth  and  goodness  is 
kindled  by  the  Spirit  of  God ;  it  is  given  of  God,  and 
will  be  recognized  by  others  as  such.  That  they  may 
"glorify  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven." 

It  is  the  same  truth  of  Christian  conduct — learned 
from  these  very  words  of  Jesus  ? — to  which  Peter  would 
have  his  Jewish  brethren  give  heed :  "  Having  your 
behaviour  seemly  among  the  Gentiles,  that  .  .  .  they 
may  by  your  good  works  which  they  behold  glorify  God 
in  the  day  of  visitation."  *  Happy  the  man  to  whom 
it  should  be  said,  as  a  man  on  the  road  once  said  to 
Francis  of  Assisi :  "  There  are  many  who  know  you 
and  praise  God  for  you."  Instinctively  will  the  faith- 
ful heart  make  answer,  as  Francis  did,  "  God  be 
praised." 

It  is  the  indwelling  Spirit  of  God  whose  effects  are 
visible  in  the  good  works  and  seemly  behaviour  of  his 
children. 

Ill 

Now,  there  were  some  such  effects  immediately  ap- 
parent in  the  congregation  at  Csesarea.  One  was  praise- 
fulness:  "  They  heard  them  speak  with  tongues,  and 
magnify  God."  Another  was  confession:  unoffended 
by  the  shame  of  the  cross,  they  were  baptized  "  in  the 

*I  Peter  2:12. 


308  VISION  AND  POWER 

name  of  Jesus  Christ."  Still  another  was  the  desire 
for  Christian  teaching  and  fellowship:  "  Then  prayed 
they  him  to  tarry  certain  days."  Accordingly  we  hear 
the  church  in  Jerusalem  giving  glory  to  God  that  these 
Gentiles  had  received  the  gift  of  "  repentance  unto  life," 
and  Peter,  in  the  council  held  subsequently,  speaking 
of  the  ''  cleansing  "  of  "  their  hearts  by  faith." 

AU  which  is  another  mark  of  universality  in  the 
religion  of  Jesus.  There  was  not  to  be  on©  type  of 
religious  experience  and  character  for  Jerusalem  and 
another  for  Csesarea,  one  for  the  foremost  apostle  of 
Jesus  and  another  for  a  captain  of  the  Roman  army. 
No  caste.  E^o  exclusivism.  Peter  had  already,  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  preaching  to  "  Jews,  devout  men  of 
every  nation  under  heaven,"  declared,  "  Ye  shall  re- 
ceive the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  It  was  no  peculiar 
treasure  of  the  Apostles  and  other  disciples  who  had 
just  received  it.  The  promise  which  it  fulfilled  was  "  to 
all  that  are  afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God 
should  call  unto  him." 

Thus  the  new  effusion  of  the  Spirit's  power  that  is 
to  attend  the  utterance  of  God's  word  is  to  attend  it 
everywhere.  Greater  than  prophets  of  Israel  saw  and 
heard,  even  when  kings  cried  out  in  confession  of  sin 
before  them,  greater  than  the  Seventy  sent  out  by 
Jesus  saw  and  heard,  though  they  returned  exultant 
with  the  report,  "  Even  the  demons  are  subject  unto 
us  in  thy  name,"  greater  than  any  prophet  or  evan- 
gelist ever  knew  before  the  day  when  the  things 
that  are  Jesus  Christ's  could  be  shown  by  the  Spirit  to 
the  believing  heart,  are  the  effects  of  spiritual  power 


EFFECTS  OF  POWER  309 

which  may  attend  the  ministry  of  the  evangelic  preacher 
to-day. 

IV 

"Will  we  suffer  just  here  a  word  of  caution  ?  Do  not 
expect  too  much  of  that  which  is  at  best  imperfect — 
even  of  a  regenerate  soul.  The  moral  standard,  be  it 
remembered,  according  to  which  we  habitually  judge 
a  Christian,  is  the  highest  possible;  and  to  say,  or 
silently  to  act  upon  the  assumption,  that  a  man  must 
be  a  perfect  Christian  or  not  a  Christian  at  all,  "  filled 
with  the  Spirit "  or  else  not  under  the  power  of  the 
Spirit  at  all,  would  be  going  far  astray. 

"  Having  become  his  disciples,  let  us  live  according 
to  Christianity,"  wrote  Ignatius  of  Antioch  in  one  of 
his  letters  to  the  churches.  It  was  a  difficult  life 
to  live,  a  terribly  tested  life,  in  the  pagan  surround- 
ings of  Ignatius  and  the  brethren  to  whom  he  was 
writing  in  the  first  half  of  the  second  century — on  his 
way  at  this  very  time  to  the  lions  of  the  Colosseum. 
It  is  a  difficult  and  severely  tested  life  to  live  in  the 
pagan  surroundings  of  the  few  Christians  here  and 
there  in  such  a  country,  let  us  say,  as  China  in  the 
first  half  of  the  twentieth  century.  Hundreds  of 
Chinese  Christians  were  called  a  few  years  ago  to 
witness  for  their  faith  with  their  life-blood.  But  will 
any  one  anywhere  who  has  been  endeavouring  to  live 
this  highest  and  holiest  life,  to  "  live  according  to 
Christianity,"  to  "  walk  by  the  Spirit,"  describe  it  as 
a  broad  and  easy  way  ?  "  It  does  not  take  much  of  a 
man,"  some  one  has  said,  "  to  be  a  Christian,  but  it 


310  VISION  AND  POWER 

takes  all  there  is  of  him  all  the  time."  Even  the  power 
of  the  Spirit,  without  which  no  step  can  be  taken  in 
this  way  of  life,  can  make  a  man  a  Christian  only 
with  his  consent  and  daily  cooperation. 

Hence  the  need  of  enlightened  and  sympathetic  judg- 
ment as  to  the  reality  of  spiritual  life  in  any  par- 
ticular case. 

To  be  somewhat  more  specific.  Here  is  an  old  man 
brought  to  Christ.  Sadly  enough,  it  is  a  rare  occur- 
rence; but  happily  not  impossible  or  unprecedented. 
It  has  taken  place,  let  us  suppose,  under  your  own 
ministry.  What  have  you,  then?  A  soul  that  had 
grown  old  in  sin.  His  moral  habit,  formed  and  fixed 
through  a  long  succession  of  years,  was  that  of  in- 
difference, neglect,  profaneness,  resistance  to  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  and  the  result,  an  almost  hopeless  insensibility. 
Yet  not  altogether  hopeless,  as  his  conversion  has 
proved. 

May  we  reasonably  expect  that  some  genuine  effects 
of  spiritual  power  will  appear  in  such  a  man?  Un- 
doubtedly; and  we  need  to  recognize  and  encourage 
whatever  signs  of  the  new  life,  breaking  through  the 
old  encrusted  insensibility,  may  spring  up  and  grow. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  that  we  shall  see  the  fruits  of 
the  Spirit  in  all  their  varied  beauty  and  perfection 
is  extremely  improbable. 

And  here,  at  the  other  extreme  of  our  allotted  length 
of  years,  is  a  little  child  not  yet  in  what  we  should 
call  the  age  of  discretion  and  responsibility.  How 
soon  may  the  Holy  Spirit  touch  the  child-soul  with  his 
renewing  and  formative  life  ?    Surely  at  the  very  dawn 


EFFECTS  OF  POWER  311 

of  moral  consciousness.    Let  us  trust  that  Spirit  of  life 
to  do  it.    Let  us  be  co-workers  with  him. 

Let  the  father  and  mother  know  that  their  own 
teaching  and  personality  are  a  chosen  means  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  spiritual  nurture  of  the  child  that  has  been 
given  into  their  arms  by  the  Father  in  heaven.  And 
let  the  minister  of  him  who  said,  "  To  such  belongeth 
the  kingdom  of  God,"  know  that  the  most  fruitful  field 
of  his  ministry  is  childhood  and  youth.  Let  him  be 
glad  to  yield  his  own  teaching  and  personality,  day  by 
day,  to  cooperation  with  the  Spirit  in  opening  the  heart 
of  the  young,  from  infancy  on,  toward  the  Master 
and  Saviour.  Is  he  prone  to  undervalue  this  priceless 
opportunity  and  the  consequent  obligation?  Horace 
Bushnell  said  that  he  thought  of  nothing  in  his  min- 
istry with  so  little  respect  as  of  his  omissions  here. 
"  With  more  regret/'  he  said,  "  and  so  little  respect." 
In  which  touching  confession  that  noble  Christian 
thinker  and  preacher  by  no  means  stands  alone. 

But  here  again  the  wisdom  of  a  true  spiritual  dis- 
crimination is  needed.  The  Christian  child's  life  will 
indeed  express  something  of  the  grace  of  God's  renew- 
ing love  in  the  heart,  but  it  will  be  only  an  incipient 
expression,  such  as  is  possible  to  childhood.  The  at- 
tempt to  force  it  into  forms  natural  to  adult  religious 
experience  would  be  a  deed  of  violence.  And  to  deny 
its  genuineness  because  of  its  incipiency  would  be 
worse. 


312  VISION  AND  POWER 


That  which  should  be  ever  expected  under  the  word 
of  preaching,  without  reference  to  the  age  of  its  hear- 
ers, is  the  new  birth  of  the  soul. 

Are  we  willing  to  look  at  this  new  birth  for  a  few 
moments  from  the  viewpoint  of  personal  experience? 
Remember,  first  of  all,  that  every  one  is  governed 
by  some  supreme  motive  or  allied  group  of  motives; 
and  it  is  this  governing  motive  that,  in  each  case,  de- 
termines the  character.  Whatsoever  motive  governs 
any  man's  moral  conduct,  that  is  what  that  man  really 
is.  That  is  what  he  has  made  and  is  making  of  him- 
self. Governed  is  he  by  appetite  ?  by  the  desire  for 
property?  by  the  craving  for  esteem?  by  natural  affec- 
tion? These  and  the  like  are  all  proper  and  good  in 
their  place.  They  have  not  been  given  us  to  war 
against  the  soul.  They  are  not  enemies  but,  in  their 
proper  activities,  helpers  of  the  true  human  life.  They 
are  necessary  to  the  making  of  the  man.  They  are 
the  push  of  nature,  God-given,  toward  the  different 
external  goods  that  are  necessary  to  personal  life  and 
upbuilding.  But  they  do  perpetually  lead  the  soul  into 
sin  by  transgressing  their  Divinely  prescribed  limits — 
healthful  desire  corrupting  itself  into  gluttony,  covet- 
ousness,  revenge,  selfish  ambition,  lust.  Thus,  the  will, 
yielding  to  unholy  passion,  becomes  self-will,  which  is 
antagonism  to  the  good  and  holy  will  of  God. 

But  let  the  motive  now  be  enthroned  which  has  the 
right  to  rule.     Let  the  usurpers  of  the  seat  of  govern- 


EFFECTS  OF  POWER  313 

ment  in  the  kingdom  of  the  soul  be  put  down.  There 
will  be  a  radical  inner  change.  The  man  will  be 
made  over,  reconstructed,  according  to  the  creative  and 
redemptive  idea  of  humanity.  And  need  I  remind  you 
that  this  motive,  reigning  by  Divine  right,  is  filial 
love  to  God  and  fraternal  love  to  mankind  ?  Or,  what 
is  in  effect  the  same  thing,  it  is  the  spirit  of  obe- 
dience to  the  will  of  the  Heavenly  Father  as  the  supreme 
law  of  life. 

It  is  when  this  motive  is  enthroned  that  the  man 
is  said,  in  the  language  of  the  New  Testament,  to  be 
regenerated.  He  now  lives  a  right  life.  He  lives 
indeed,  for  he  is  reborn.  He  is  God's  child,  God's 
man.  And  this  reconstruction,  this  birth  from  above, 
this  impartation  of  the  highest  life,  is  indeed  through 
the  faith  of  the  recipient,  but  it  is  by  the  Divine  energy 
in  the  soul.  "  By  grace  ye  have  been  saved,  through 
faith." 

Here  is  the  secret  of  peace;  for  here  is  the  cure  of 
the  divided  self.  Let  that  which  has  the  Divine  right, 
even  holy  love,  bear  rule.  Let  Christ  be  master — "  he 
is  Lord  of  all."  So,  and  only  so,  wiU  there  come  into 
realization  the  true  unity  of  personal  life,  the  harmony 
of  powers  in  which  is  spiritual  health  and  peace. 

VI 

Not,  however,  that  this  lawful  kingdom  of  the  soul 
becomes  forthwith  a  veritable  kingdom  of  heaven.  On 
the  contrary,  dethroned  motives  may  be  expected  to 
strive  again  for  the  ascendency,  and  will  have  to  be  sub- 
dued as  before.     They  must  not  be  dealt  with  softly. 


314  VISION  AND  POWER 

Be  a  stem  and  uncompromising  master  of  your  lower 
nature.  No  "  needless  softness  or  self-indulgence."  The 
body's  duty,  like  the  soldier's  duty,  is  to  obey.  "  I 
buffet  my  body  and  bring  it  into  bondage  " — into  that 
bondage  to  moral  law  which  is  the  man's  truest  free- 
dom. "  For  God  gave  us  not  a  spirit  of  fearfulness, 
but  of  power  and  love  and  discipline  {OGocppoviafxoiy 
soundness  of  mind,  moderation,  self-control)." 

Now  this  regulation  of  the  lower  motives  and  the 
perpetual  strengthening  of  the  reign  of  moral  love 
is  called  in  the  New  Testament  by  several  significant 
names.  It  is  edification ;  it  is  growth  in  faith  or  knowl- 
edge or  love ;  it  is  perfecting  holiness ;  it  is  living  and 
walking  in  the  Spirit. 

Here,  then,  in  the  Christian  growth  and  activities  of 
his  congregation,  as  well  as  in  the  new  birth  of  the 
soul,  the  preacher's  heart  may  be  gladdened  by  the 
signs  of  spiritual  power.  These,  under  a  pastoral  and 
evangelic  as  contradistinguished  from  an  evangelistic 
ministration  of  the  gospel. 

A  work  of  evangelism  we  are  surely  called  to  do, 
but  just  as  surely  a  work  of  teaching  and  discipline. 
It  is  a  peculiarly  significant  fact  that  the  foremost  evan- 
gelist of  the  eighteenth  century  was  the  founder  of 
Kingswood  School,  the  organizer  of  the  first  Tract  So- 
ciety, and  the  writer  or  editor  of  about  two  hundred 
books,  and  that  the  foremost  evangelist  of  the  last  gen- 
eration made  it  so  large  a  part  of  his  work  to  establish 
and  direct  his  Bible  Institute  and  his  schools  at  North- 
field  and  Mt.  Hermon.  "  Teaching  them  " — it  is  a  part 
of  the  Great  Commission  itself. 


EFFECTS  OF  POWER  315 

Think  of  the  texts  and  Scripture  lessons  in  the  New 
Testament  for  a  pastoral  pulpit.  Or,  imagine,  if  you 
can,  courses  of  sermons  on  the  Four  Gospels  and  the 
Epistles  in  which  there  was  not  set  forth  a  large  body 
of  teaching  and  admonition  to  Christian  believers.  To 
preach  the  New  Testament  is  to  preach  diligently  to 
the  Church. 

"  He  that  prophesieth,"  says  the  great  evangelizing 
and  teaching  apostle  in  his  instructions  to  the  young 
Christians  of  Corinth,  "  speaketh  unto  men  edification 
and  exhortation  and  consolation."  The  Christian 
prophet,  therefore,  is  not  simply  a  preacher  before 
whom  the  secrets  of  a  man's  sinful  heart  will,  for  the 
first  time  perhaps,  be  "  made  manifest,  and  so  he  will 
fall  down  on  his  face  and  worship  God."  He  is  also 
an  upbuilder  of  the  converted  soul  in  the  knowledge 
of  Christ. 

And  the  upbuilder  must  needs  be  a  comforter,  with 
a  ministry  of  healing — speaking  unto  men  "  consola- 
tion." Great  is  the  need  of  it.  For  in  all  our  congre- 
gations are  the  faint-hearted,  the  troubled,  the  sorrow- 
ing— souls  in  prison,  souls  in  pain.  I  do  not  speak 
of  the  effusively  sentimental  or  the  amiably  selfish, 
who  would  impose  their  burdens  upon  others.  These 
call  for  a  somewhat  different  treatment.  I  am  think- 
ing of  the  Little-faiths,  the  real  sufferers  in  body  and 
mind,  the  broken  in  spirit.  "  He  is  the  only  min- 
ister," said  one  of  these,  naming  an  occasional  preacher 
in  the  pulpit  of  her  church,  "  who  offers  me  any 
comfort." 

Would  you  be  thought  of  as  a  friend?  do  people 


316  VISION  AND  POWER 

honour  you  with  the  title  "  brother  "  ?  "A  friend 
loveth  at  all  times  and  a  brother  is  born  for  adversity." 
Would  you  learn  the  loving  tactf  ulness  of  a  wise-hearted 
minister  of  Jesus?  Study  the  Epistle  to  Philemon. 
Would  you  be  a  daily  and  lifelong  pupil  of  the  Spirit  ? 
Here  is  a  part  of  the  spiritual  art  which  he  would 
teach :  "  The  Lord  God  hath  given  me  the  tongue  of 
them  that  are  taught,  that  I  should  know  how  to  sustain 
with  words  him  that  is  weary." 

It  was  one  of  the  distinguishing  notes  in  the  min- 
istry of  the  Son  of  Man: 

"  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me, 
Because  he  anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings  to  the  poor  .    .   . 
To  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised." 

"  Daughter,  thy  faith  hath  made  thee  whole ;  go  in 
peace."  "  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let 
it  be  afraid."  Blessed  indeed  is  that  servant  of  the 
Master  upon  whom  rests,  in  some  measure  as  upon 
the  Master  himself,  the  power  to  give  light  to  them 
that  sit  in  the  shadow  of  death  and  to  heal  the  broken- 
hearted. 

Moreover,  we  may  learn  from  the  Master  that  to 
comfort  is  to  make  strong.  That,  indeed,  was  the 
original  sense  of  the  word — not  to  condole  but  to 
strengthen.  When,  for  example,  it  was  written  some 
hundreds  of  years  ago  in  the  Invitation  to  the  Lord's 
Table,  "  Take  this  holy  sacrament  to  your  comfort," 
the  meaning  was,  "  to  your  strengthening  " ;  and  such 
h  the  word's  best  meaning  still.  "  As  one  whom  his 
mother  comforteth,  so  will  I  comfort  you."  How,  then, 
does  a  mother  comfort  the  hurt  child?     Sympatheti- 


EFFECTS  OF  POWER  317 

cally  ?  To  be  sure ;  but  if  she  be  wise,  not  by  engaging 
his  attention  with  the  sickness  or  the  wound  that  has 
befallen  him,  but  by  calling  it  off  to  pleasant  and  en- 
couraging thoughts.  This  lessens  the  pain,  which  the 
other  method  would  have  increased,  and  tends  to  healing 
and  health. 

Rest  assured  the  case  is  the  same  with  him  who  would 
fain  minister  to  the  burdened  or  sorrowing  soul.  There 
is  a  better  way  to  help  such  a  one  to  bear  his  burdens 
than  to  talk  to  him  about  them.  Probably  he  is  dwelling 
too  much  upon  them  already,  which  certainly  makes 
them  harder  to  bear.  Listen  to  the  story  of  grief,  pa- 
tient and  gentle  pastor,  sympathetically,  but  be  ready 
to  give  an  inspiring  and  not  a  depressive  sympathy. 
Call  off  the  mind  from  disease  to  the  power  of  renewal, 
from  sadness  to  hope,  from  evil  to  good,  from  man  to 
God. 

To  be  not  a  mere  condoler  but  an  uplifter,  to  encour- 
age (which  means  to  give  courage),  that  is  to  be  a  com- 
forter indeed.  "  The  Lord  God  has  given  me  the  tongue 
of  them  that  are  taught,  that  I  should  know  how  to 
sustain  with  words  him  that  is  weary."  Weariness  is 
weakness.  The  Divinely  taught  comforter  is  a  sus- 
tainer,  a  courage-giver,  a  strength-giver  to  the  faint 
heart  and  feeble  will. 

VII 

Now,  the  various  concordant  experiences  and  states 
in  which  the  regenerate  life  expresses  itself  are  de- 
pcribed  in  a  metaphor  of  the  Apostle  Paul  as  "  fruits 
of  the  Spirit."     He  contrasts  them  with  works  of  the 


318  VISION  AND  POWER 

flesh,  which,  he  says,  are  "  manifest."  But  the  fruits 
of  the  Spirit — such  as  peace,  joy,  self-control,  love — 
are  likewise  manifest.  They  appear  not  only  in  the 
consciousness  of  their  possessor,  but  to  others  also ;  and 
they  cannot  be  hid. 

In  our  day  ten  thousand  witnesses,  of  all  varieties 
of  temperament  and  from  all  manner  of  circumstances 
and  situations,  might  be  summoned  to  tell  what  they 
know  of  these  gracious  experiences  in  their  everyday 
life. 

Is  it  a  question  of  peace ?  "A  while  ago,"  says 
Grenfell  of  Labrador,  "  I  spent  some  twenty-four  hours 
floating  on  the  great  Atlantic  Ocean,  on  a  small  pan 
of  ice,  on  to  which  I  had  crawled  out  of  the  freezing 
water.  No  picture  was  formed  on  my  retina  of  a  single 
living  soul.  However,  I  slept  peacefully  through  a 
large  part  of  the  night,  in  the  absolute  conviction  of 
an  unseen  Presence,  and  of  something  better  before 
me,  even  if  it  should  be  behind  the  sun  which  rose 
in  the  morning  gloriously  from  behind  the  boundless 
horizon." 

Do  we  enquire  concerning  joy  ?  "  When  fifteen  years 
old,"  says  Frances  Ridley  Havergal,  whose  soulful 
hymns  we  so  often  sing,  "  I  committed  my  soul  to  the 
Saviour,  and  earth  and  heaven  seemed  brighter  from 
that  moment." 

Do  we  ask  for  courage  and  self-control  ?  "  To  at- 
tempt speaking  was  vain,"  wrote  Wesley  in  his  Journal 
concerning  the  riotous  mob  of  Wednesbury ;  "  for  the 
noise  on  every  side  was  like  the  roaring  of  the  sea. 
So  they  dragged  me  along  till  we  came  to  the  town, 


EFFECTS  OF  POWER  319 

where  seeing  the  door  of  a  large  house  open,  I  attempted 
to  go  in;  but  a  man  catching  me  by  the  hair,  pulled 
me  back  into  the  middle  of  the  mob.  ...  I  continued 
speaking  all  the  time  to  those  within  hearing,  feeling 
no  pain  or  weariness.  .  .  .  From  the  beginning  to  the 
end  I  found  the  same  presence  of  mind  as  if  I  had  been 
sitting  in  my  own  study." 

Would  we  hear  of  sacrificial  love  ?  "  If  I  am  per- 
mxitted,"  replied  Reginald  Heber,  when  expostulated 
with  on  his  decision  to  go  as  a  missionary  bishop  to 
India,  "  to  rescue  one  miserable  Brahmin  from  his 
wretched  superstition,  I  shall  think  myself  amply  re- 
warded for  the  sacrifice." 

Peace,  joy,  self-control,  love — these  are  fruits  of 
that  Spirit  whose  fulness  of  grace  the  Christian  be- 
liever, according  to  the  word  of  Jesus,  may  receive. 

And  the  greatest  of  these  is  love.  It  must  needs  be 
so,  if  love  is  the  eternally  ordained  governing  motive  of 
the  kingdom  within. 

It  is  noteworthy,  too,  that  in  Paul's  naming  of  fruits 
of  the  Spirit,  love  is  given  first — "  love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness, 
self-control."  On  the  other  hand,  in  his  naming  of 
the  three  great  elements  of  spiritual  experience  and 
character,  which  he  contrasts  with  "  gifts,"  love  is  last 
— "  And  now  abideth  faith,  hope,  love."  Also,  in  the 
Second  Epistle  of  Peter  this  latter  order  has  been 
chosen — faith,  virtue,  knowledge,  self-control,  patience, 
godliness,  brotherly  kindness,  love.*  Again,  Paul  bids 
"  God's  elect "  to  whom  he  is  writing  to  clothe  them- 

*  II  Peter  1 :  5-7. 


320  VISION  AND  POWER 

selves  with  compassion,  kindness,  lowliness,  meekness, 
long-suffering,  forbearance,  forgiveness,  "  and  above  all 
these  things,  love,  which  is  the  bond  of  perfectness." 
In  each  case,  however,  the  meaning  would  seem  to  be 
the  same.  Love  is  first,  as  that  law  of  the  spirit  of 
life  in  Christ  of  which  the  whole  of  spiritual  char- 
acter is  an  expression.  And  it  is  simply  declaring 
the  same  truth  to  say  that  love  is  last,  as  that  in  which 
the  whole  of  spiritual  character  is  summed  up  and 
included. 

But  why  amplify  illustration  or  proof?  The  con- 
clusive word  was  spoken — and  to  its  truth  our  best 
knowledge  of  human  life  and  character  bears  witness 
— by  the  Master  himself,  when  he  named  the  first  and 
great  commandment  and  a  second  like  unto  it.  "  On 
these  two  commandments  the  whole  law  hangeth,  and 
the  prophets."  In  a  word,  the  all-inclusive  effect  of 
the  indwelling  Spirit's  power,  in  preacher  and  people, 
is  that  state  of  heart,  soul,  strength,  mind,  which 
Jesus  has  called  love  to  God,  and  that  care  for  our 
neighbour  which,  Jesus  says,  must  move  on  the  same 
plane  as  care  for  ourselves.  And  for  the  preacher  of 
Jesus'  word  to  see  evidences  of  that  effect  under  his 
ministrations,  is  to  be  thankful  and  satisfied. 

VIII 

He  would  fain  see  it,  however,  not  only  in  the  life 
of  this  or  that  individual  but  dominant  in  the  Church, 
And  that  it  may  become  so,  he  must  needs  be  a  prophet 
of  righteousness.  Let  him  preach  to  men — to  them,  not 
at  them — as  the  Hebrew  prophets  did,  as  the  Master 


EFFECTS  OF  POWER  321 

did,  in  the  language  of  their  own  age  and  concerning 
the  sins  of  their  own  lives.  Let  him  preach  to  the 
times,  but  out  of  the  timeless — eternal  truth  to  the 
short-lived  men  of  the  day. 

There  may  be  some  in  the  congregation  who  will  not 
bear  it.  As  in  Jerusalem  under  Isaiah's  preaching, 
they  will  "  say  to  the  seers,  See  not."  For  in  the 
cushioned  pew  as  elsewhere  are  sins  of  fleshly  indul- 
gence, of  lying,  of  fraudulent  business  practices,  of 
worldliness,  of  impurity,  of  profane  language  and 
conduct;  and  these  instinctively  complain,  perhaps  in 
attempted  self-justification,  under  the  white  light  of 
truth.  Shall  God's  prophet  shut  his  eyes,  that  he  may 
not  "  see,"  and  keep  silent,  that  he  may  not  offend  ? 
Silence  speaks  consent. 

Courteous,  gentle,  loving,  not  "  marring  the  work 
of  grace  with  his  own  ungraciousness,"  but  fearless  and 
faithful  must  be  the  spokesman  for  the  enthronement 
of  Christ  in  the  Christian  congregation. 

Indeed,  the  completer  ideal  and  the  unwearying  en- 
deavour will  be  to  make  of  the  community  itself  a 
kingdom  of  righteousness  and  brotherhood.  For  the 
Christ  of  the  Church  is  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  is 
Lord  of  labour  and  the  workshop,  of  the  marriage- 
feast  and  the  home,  of  little  children,  of  city  and 
country,  of  nature  as  well  as  man,  of  the  body  as  well 
as  the  soul,  of  the  crowd  as  -v. ell  as  the  individual. 
''  And  upon  this  came  his  disciples ;  and  they  mar- 
velled that  he  was  speaking  with  a  woman  " — one  soli- 
tary soul,  one  sinful  woman,  who  had  come  to  fill  her 
pitcher  with  living  water  at  Jacob's  well.    "  And  when 


322  VISION  AND  POWER 

He  drew  nigh  he  saw  the  city  and  wept  over  it,  saying, 

0  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  that  killeth  the  prophets  and 
stoneth  them  that  are  sent  unto  her !  how  often  would 

1  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would 
not !  " — a  sinful  city  which  he  would  fain  have  saved 
from  the  foreseen  storm  of  sorrow  and  devastation. 

A  self-centred  church,  keeping  to  itself,  on  the  de- 
fensive, unwilling  to  use  and  to  lose  its  life  for  the 
gospel's  sake,  practically  indifferent  to  the  physical, 
social,  and  moral  welfare  of  the  world  about  it,  may 
fairly  represent  the  earlier  monastic  idea  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  but  it  does  not  represent  the  Christianity  which 
the  preaching  of  Peter  would  introduce  into  the  great 
Gentile  world,  when  he  offered  to  the  Caesareans,  as 
Leader  and  Saviour:  "  Jesus  Christ  (he  is  Lord  of  all) 
.  .  .  even  Jesus  of  Nazareth  .  .  .  who  went  about  do- 
ing good,  and  healing  all  that  were  oppressed  with  the 
devil."  "  And  we  are  witnesses  of  all  things  which 
he  did  both  in  the  country  of  the  Jews  and  in  Jerusa- 
lem." A  church  that  would  follow  the  "  Lord  of  all  " 
must  go  about  "  doing  good."  It  must  be  an  apostolic 
church,  which  is  to  say,  a  church  of  the  sent-forth. 

Spiritual  power  is  very  wide-reaching  in  its  effects. 
It  makes  for  the  well-being  of  the  whole  man.  It  quick- 
ens heart  and  conscience  to  promote  healthful  condi- 
tions of  living,  decent  and  seemly  homes,  sanitation, 
prevention  of  drunkenness,  cure  of  disease,  destruction 
of  the  agencies  of  vice,  good  schools,  good  government, 
obedience  to  law,  just  and  beneficent  industrial  condi- 
tions, veracity  in  trade,  the  overthrow  of  the  modern 


EFFECTS  OF  POWER  323 

Moloch  of  greed  that  is  still  feeding  upon  the  lives  of 
little  children. 

In  diligently  striving  for  these  things  in  her  Lord's 
name,  a  church  is  showing  herself  not  worldly  but  un- 
worldly, not  spiritually  indifferent  but  faithful  toward 
the  reign  of  Christ  on  earth.  Surely  the  God  who, 
sending  forth  his  Spirit,  renews  the  face  of  the  earth, 
would  have  his  people  cooperate  with  him  in  renewing 
by  that  same  Spirit  both  the  face  and  the  heart  of  the 
human  world. 

"  I  expect,"  says  the  author  of  "  The  Tongue  of 
Fire,"  "  to  see  cities  swept  from  end  to  end,  their 
manners  elevated,  their  commerce  purified,  their  poli- 
tics Christianized,  their  criminal  population  reformed, 
their  poor  made  to  feel  that  they  dwell  among  brethren 
— righteousness  in  the  streets,  peace  in  the  homes,  an 
altar  at  every  fireside — because  I  believe  in  the  Holy 
Ghost." 


XV 
CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER 

For  they  heard  them  speak  with  tongues  and  magnify 
God.— Acts  10:46. 

"  f  I  ^HEY  heard  them  speak  with  tongues."  Here 
I  was  an  extraordinary  outflow  of  power.  To 
Peter  and  the  brethren  from  Joppa  it  showed, 
as  indubitably  as  unexpectedly,  that  "  on  the  Gentiles 
also  was  poured  out  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  What 
does  it  mean  for  us? 

In  apostolic  language  it  is  described  not  as  one  of 
the  "  fruits  of  the  Spirit,"  but  as  a  "  spiritual  gift 
{Xocpi(3}^oc)"  Something  of  its  nature  may  be  learned 
from  Paul's  instructions,  in  the  fourteenth  chapter  of 
Eirst  Corinthians,  concerning  its  use  and  abuse.  It  is 
there  referred  to  as  an  ecstatic  utterance  of  prayer  or 
praise — so  here,  in  Peter's  congregation,  "  They  heard 
them  speak  with  tongues  and  magnify  God" — unin- 
telligible, for  the  most  part  or  wholly,  both  to  speaker 
and  hearer.  Accordingly  it  did  not  serve  as  a  means 
of  edification  to  the  Christian  people,  but  as  a  sign  to 
the  unbelieving. 

There  were  some  Christians,  however,  who  had  the 
gift  of  interpreting  this  rapt  spiritual  utterance.  If 
such  a  one  were  present,  let  him  interpret.  If,  on 
the  contrary,  there  were  no  interpreter  present,  then 

324 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  325 

it  were  better — at  least  in  the  Corinthian  church,  to 
which  the  apostle  is  writing — not  to  speak  aloud  "  in 
a  tongue."  "  Let  him  speak  to  himself  and  to  God." 
For  the  congregational  law  of  love  was :  "  Let  all  things 
be  done  unto  edifying." 


In  this  apostolic  teaching,  then,  three  things  are  note- 
worthy: (1)  The  gift  of  tongues  is  recognized,  together 
with  other  spiritual  gifts,  as  a  sign  of  the  Spirit's 
power;  (2)  Of  the  several  spiritual  gifts,  prophesying 
i?  distinguished  as  more  to  be  desired,  because  of  its 
greater  usefulness,  than  "  speaking  in  a  tongue " ; 
(3)  Above  all  spiritual  gifts — incommensurable  with 
them,  shall  we  not  say? — is  commended  that  supreme 
grace  of  character,  holy  love.  The  whole  truth  is  com- 
pacted into  a  single  verse :  "  Follow  after  love ;  yet 
desire  earnestly  spiritual  gifts,  but  rather  that  ye  may 
prophesy." 

Here  is  indeed  a  large  and  luminous  word.  Delivered 
by  the  great  apostolic  interpreter  of  Christianity,  who 
declared  that  as  for  himself  he  would  rather  speak  in 
the  congregation  five  words  with  his  understanding,  that 
be  might  instruct  others,  "  than  ten  thousand  words 
in  a  tongue,"  it  is  applicable  yet.  True,  the  gift  of 
tongues  as  a  significant  form  of  rapturous  speech  has 
ceased ;  but  not  that  which  it  signified.  For  the  same 
spiritual  power  as  of  old  is  expressing  itself  still,  not 
only  in  the  manifold  fruits  of  the  Spirit — which  is 
the  chief  thing — but  also  in  sundry  impressive 
"  signs." 


326  VISION  AND  POWER 

That  is  to  say,  there  do  still  occur  remarkable  emo- 
tional experiences  and  outward  manifestations  in  the 
Christian  life.  The  evangelic  preacher  is  likely  to 
welcome  them  as  occurring  under  his  ministry.  It 
will  give  him  joy  to  speak  the  word  of  truth  with  such 
"  signs  following."  But  he  will  also,  as  a  faithful  dis- 
ciple in  the  school  of  Christ,  learn,  as  Paul  did,  to  esti- 
mate them  at  their  true  value  in  comparison  with  one 
another  and  in  relation  to  the  crowning  virtue  of  Chris- 
tian love. 

To  illustrate.  Suppose  the  preacher,  while  faith- 
fully delivering  his  message,  should  see  one  of  his 
hearers  suddenly  fall  down  and  call  upon  God  for 
mercy.  And  in  that  same  hour  the  prayer  of  contri- 
tion is  changed  into  a  song  of  praise.  This  would 
seem  to  be  some  such  scene  as  that  which  took  place 
in  the  Corinthian  church,  when,  under  the  spoken  word 
of  God  from  the  lips  of  this  or  that  spiritually  gifted 
believer,  an  "  unbelieving  and  unlearned  "  man  would 
have  the  secrets  of  his  heart  made  manifest — "  and  so 
he  will  fall  down  on  his  face  and  worship  God,  declar- 
ing that  God  is  among  you  indeed."  Might  not  that 
be  accepted — the  modern  as  well  as  the  ancient  marvel 
— as  an  extraordinary  sign  of  Divine  power  ? 

There  have  been  many  events  of  this  order  in  ^e 
history  of  modern  Christianity,  They  are  familiar,  or 
may  easily  become  so,  to  every  one  interested  in  the 
subject.  Under  some  word  of  pungent  pulpit  speech, 
men  have  trembled  from  head  to  foot,  or  cried 
aloud,  or  fallen  prostrate  and  lain  for  a  time  as  one 
dead. 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  327 

"  While  I  was  earnestly  inviting  all  sinners  to  '  enter  into 
the  holiest '  by  this  '  new  and  living  way,'  many  of  those  that 
heard  began  to  call  upon  God  with  strong  cries  and  tears.  Some 
sunk  down,  and  there  remained  no  strength  in  them;  others 
exceedingly  trembled  and  quaked;  some  were  torn  with  a  kind 
of  convulsive  motion  in  every  part  of  their  bodies,  and  that 
BO  violently  that  often  four  or  five  persons  could  not  hold  one  of 
them."— Wesley,  "  Journal,"  June  15,  1739. 

Such  occurrences  have  been  most  frequent  in  time  of 
extraordinary  religious  revival.  They  seem  to  have 
taken  place  in  most  instances  through  the  thought  of 
sin  and  retribution  and  of  redemption  by  the  cross  of 
Christ,  brought  home  with  strong  conviction  and  vivid 
realism  to  the  imagination,  conscience,  and  heart  of 
the  hearer.  In  the  English  and  the  American  Wes- 
leyan  Revival  and  in  that  of  New  England  under  the 
leadership  of  Jonathan  Edwards  and  George  White- 
field,  they  were  such  as  to  attract  wide  attention,  both 
sympathetic  and  critical. 

"  Wesley  could  never  reach  any  conclusive  opinion  of  their 
character,  though  he  instituted,  at  Newcastle,  a  sort  of  scientific 
investigation  of  their  causes  and  symptoms.  .  .  .  Richard  Wat- 
son has  expressed  the  general  sentiment  of  Methodists  concern- 
ing them,  that  though  they  are  evidently  physical,  arising  from 
some  occult  nervous  susceptibility,  peculiar  perhaps  to  certain 
constitutions,  they  do  not  prove  that  an  extraordinary  work  of 
God  is  not  at  the  same  time  going  on  in  the  hearts  of  persons  so 
affected." — Stevens,  "  History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church," 
Vol.  I.,  pp.  382-83. 

Similar  phenomena  attended  the  Revival  which  pre- 
vailed 80  mightily  in  Kentucky  and  elsewhere — the 
"  Scotch-Irish  Revival,"  it  has  been  called — at  the 
opening  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Peter  Cartwright,  the  famous  backwoods  preacher, 
was  converted  at  one  of  the  meetings  in  connection 
with  this   remarkable  evangelistic  movement,   and  in 


828  VISION  AND  POWER 

his  biography,  an  intensely  interesting  narrative,  gives 
the  testimony,  together  with  the  estimate,  of  an  enthusi- 
astic but  clever  and  sharp-sighted  eye-witness,  as  to  some 
of  its  physical  phenomena. 

It  will  be  noted  that  he  regards  that  extraordinary 
convulsive  exercise,  the  "  jerk?,"  when  spontaneous  and 
irresistible,  as  a  sign  of  Divine  power  and  judgment, 
but  as  also  in  some  cases  a  morbid  contagion;  and  that 
he  found  the  best  remedy  for  it  to  be  prayer : 

"  I  have  seen  more  than  a  hundred  sinners  fall  like  dead  men 
under  one  powerful  sermon,  and  I  have  seen  and  heard  more  than 
five  hundred  Christians  all  shouting  aloud  the  high  praises  of 
God  at  once.  .    .   . 

"  Just  in  the  midst  of  our  controversies  on  the  subject  of  the 
powerful  exercises  among  the  people  under  preaching,  a  new 
exercise  broke  out  among  us  called  the  jerks,  which  was  over- 
whelming in  its  effects  upon  the  bodies  and  minds  of  the  people. 
No  matter  whether  they  were  saints  or  sinners,  they  would  be 
taken  under  a  warm  song  or  sermon  and  seized  with  a  con- 
vulsive jerking  all  over,  which  they  could  not  by  any  possibility 
avoid;  and  the  more  they  resisted  the  more  they  jerked.  If  they 
would  not  strive  against  it,  and  pray  in  good  earnest,  the  jerk- 
ing would  usually  abate.   ... 

*'  There  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that,  with  weak-minded,  igno- 
rant, and  superstitious  persons,  there  was  a  great  deal  of  sym- 
pathetic feeling  with  many  that  claimed  to  be  under  the  influ- 
ence of  this  jerking  exercise;  and  yet  with  many  it  was  per- 
fectly involuntary.  It  was  on  all  occasions  my  practice  to 
recommend  fervent  prayer  as  a  remedy,  and  it  almost  always 
proved  an  effectual  antidote. — "Autobiography,"  pp.  45-51. 

Many  a  neighbourhood  revival,  also,  and  many  a 
regular  ministration  of  the  gospel  have  been  attended 
with  emotional  and  physical  signs  of  the  same  general 
character. 

II 

The  professional  psychologist,  who  of  recent  years 
has  been  making  something  of  a  study  in  the  hitherto 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  329 

neglected  field  of  religious  psychology,  is  ready  with 
an  explanation  of  these  phenomena,  and  has  a  valid 
claim  to  our  attention.  Not  that  he  comes  with  any 
significant  new  discovery  in  this  field ;  for  there  is  none. 
But  it  is  well  that  he  should  bring  all  his  knowledge 
and  thought  to  bear  upon  the  great  conscious  facts  of 
religion.  It  is  well  that  he  should  endeavour  to  show 
their  mental  order  and  law.  And  it  is  well  that  he 
should  make  it  plain,  as  he  is  doing,  that  the  physical 
effects  here  in  question  are  caused  proximately  by  sud- 
den and  powerful  excitation  of  the  nerve  centres,  and 
should  cite  instances  of  similar  effects  of  high-wrought 
emotional  experiences  under  other  than  evangelic 
influences. 

Here,  too,  we  have  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  same 
intensity  of  excitement  will  not  express  itself  in  the 
same  outbreak  of  emotion,  visible  or  audible,  in  all 
persons.  Far  otherwise.  For  example,  in  the  case 
of  the  highly  suggestible  and  the  nervously  unstable, 
there  may  be  great  physical  demonstration,  where  in 
the  case  of  the  thoughtful  and  self-controlled  nothing 
of  the  kind  will  occur.  Similarly,  even  the  same  per- 
son is  more  easily  affrighted  and  more  easily  moved 
to  tears  or  laughter  or  excited  speech  in  one  state  of  the 
nerves  than  in  another. 

"  The  psychological  key  to  the  problem  is  that  concentrated 
attention,  accompanied  by  strong  religious  emotion,  produces  a 
powerful  impression  upon  the  nervous  system,  the  result  being  an 
agitation  of  nerves  throughout  the  body,  the  effects  of  which 
differ  according  to  the  constitution  of  the  subject.  In  one,  relief 
is  found  in  floods  of  tears;  in  another,  in  hysterical  laughter; 
in  a  third,  by  unconsciousness;  in  a  fourth,  by  a  partial  loss  of 
muscular  action;  in  yet  another,  complete  catalepsy  may  be  pro- 
duced .    .    .   while  some  temperaments  can  bear  religious  or  any 


330  VISION  AND  POWER 

other  kind  of  emotion  without  outward  excitement  and  without 
indication,  except  an  unusual  calmness." — Dr.  J.  M.  Buckley, 
"The  Methodists,"  p.  218. 

But  concerning  all  such  outward  excitements — "  men- 
tal and  motor  automatisms,"  our  psychologist  would 
call  them — ^there  remains,  of  course,  a  more  important 
question  of  cause.  What  produces  the  emotional  ex- 
perience? Is  it  a  sudden  access  of  fear  or  grief  or 
joy  excited  in  one's  simply  human  relations — say,  by 
some  news  received,  some  event  experienced,  some  per- 
son seen  ?  Then  the  outcry  or  the  bodily  prostration 
bears  witness  to  the  power  in  one's  life  of  such  news, 
such  event,  such  person.  It  is  the  case,  let  us  suppose, 
of  a  long-lost  son  appearing  unlooked  for  to  greet  his 
mother  in  the  old  home — I  recently  read  the  newspaper 
report  of  a  mother  in  such  circumstances  falling  dead 
in  the  arms  of  her  returned  son.  If,  however,  the 
source  of  the  overpowering  emotion  be  some  truth  of 
Christianity  sharply  applied  to  conscience  and  heart 
in  Christian  preaching,  then  even  violent  bodily  ef- 
fects will  bear  witness,  in  their  humble  sphere,  to  the 
power  of  the  gospel.  And  their  testimony  at  times  may 
be  peculiarly  arresting  and  suggestive. 

Ill 

But  there  has  always  been  danger  that  such  bodily 
reactions  under  religious  appeal  may  be  misinterpreted 
and  overvalued.  They  are  not  to  be  coveted  as  proofs 
of  the  preacher's  Divine  vocation.  Otherwhere  must  he 
look  for  seals  to  his  ministry. 

Let  extraordinary  emotional  effects,  then,  be  regarded 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  331 

as  incidental  concomitants  of  the  new  birth  of  the  soul, 
and  not  even  that,  unless  they  be  followed  by  the  fruits 
of  the  Spirit  in  life  and  conduct.  Because  the  fact  of 
their  occurrence  in  religious  meetings  does  not  of  itself 
prove  them  to  be  spiritually  genuine. 

"  I  told  them  [a  *  society '  to  which  he  was  preaching]  they 
were  not  to  judge  of  the  spirit  whereby  any  one  spoke,  either 
by  appearances  or  by  common  report  or  by  their  own  inward 
feelings;  no,  nor  by  any  dreams,  visions,  or  revelations,  sup- 
posed to  be  made  to  their  souls;  any  more  than  by  their  tears 
or  any  involuntary  eflfects  wrought  upon  their  bodies.  I  warned 
them,  all  these  were  of  a  doubtful,  disputable  nature;  they  might 
be  of  God  and  they  might  not;  and  were  therefore  not  simply 
to  be  relied  on  (any  more  than  simply  to  be  condemned)  but  to 
be  tried  by  a  further  rule,  to  be  brought  to  the  only  certain  test, 
the  Law  and  the  Testimony." — Wesley,  "  Journal,"  June  22, 
1739. 

t 

For  one  thing,  these  physical  effects  may  be  caught, 
under  superemotional  excitement,  as  a  contagion. 

The  wildest  excitement  I  have  ever  witnessed,  in  time 
of  peace  or  of  war,  was  caused  by  a  single  piercing  and 
pitiful  cry  in  a  crowded  church.  A  panic-stricken  con- 
course of  people  leaping  to  their  feet  from  a  posture 
of  prayer,  hurrying  here  and  there,  faces  white  with 
terror,  rushing  with  shrieks  toward  unfastened  doors 
in  hope  of  escape — no  controlling  power  except  that 
of  mortal  fear;  and  of  all  the  distracted  actors  in  the 
scene  it  is  probable  that  only  the  first  one  knew  what 
dreadful  thing  had  happened.  Hers  was  first-hand 
terror;  all  the  rest  was  involuntary  and  uncontrollable 
imitation.  It  was  in  war-time.  A  religious  revival 
was  in  progress.  The  congregation  were  keyed  up  to 
a  high  but  silent  nervous  tension.  During  prayer  two 
or  three  soldiers  had  quietly  entered  the  church  and 


332  VISION  AND  POWER 

arrested  an  alleged  informer  in  the  employ  of  the  enemy. 
And  the  bitter  cry  of  the  unhappy  man's  sister,  who 
all  at  once  saw  and  understood,  did  the  rest.  In  like 
manner  has  religious  excitement  been  enkindled,  in  this 
or  that  form  and  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  in  certain 
susceptive  souls,  through  mere  sympathy  with  the  out- 
breaking excitement  of  others — and  especially  in  that 
psychological  whirlpool,  a  crowd. 

"  It  is  also  a  law  that  the  perception  of  the  effects  of  emo- 
tion and  proximity  to  those  who  are  under  the  power  thereof 
will  produce  upon  many  effects  similar  to  those  manifested 
before  them,  so  that  they  will  weep  when  others  weep,  even 
though  in  no  way  related  to  the  cause  of  grief.  Thus  great 
panics  arise  and  mental  and  moral  epidemics.  .  .  .  Thus  armies 
have  been  stampeded  before  forces  which  they  could  have  over- 
thrown without  difficulty,  had  they  made  a  stand." — Dr.  J.  M. 
Buckley,  "The  Methodists,"  pp.  218-19. 

Or,  such  demonstrations  may  be  honestly  practised 
by  untaught  souls  who  are  striving  thus  to  fling  them- 
selves by  means  of  some  vaguely  conceived  mental  or 
physical  struggle  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Or  again,  Christian  converts  may  be  led  to  strain 
their  religious  experience  so  as  to  make  it  conform 
to  an  accepted  type — insensibly  to  strain  it,  as  Jona- 
than Edwards  has  said  in  his  "  Treatise  on  the  Reli- 
gious Affections,"  "  so  as  to  bring  it  to  an  exact  con- 
formity to  the  scheme  already  established  in  their 
minds." 

Especially  may  such  damaging  results  ensue  when 
the  untaught  soul  of  the  preacher  is  making  appeal  to 
the  fitful  nerves  of  his  audience  rather  than  to  their 
reason  or  conscience  or  spirit  or  will. 

Grievous  has  been  the  abuse  of  the  emotional  nature, 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  333 

and  correspondingly  grievous  the  resulting  spiritual 
injury,  at  many  a  religious  meeting — even  at  many  a 
one  which  in  spirit  and  intention  has  been  true  to 
Christ  and  the  soul's  salvation.  I  remember  once  ex- 
pressing surprise  at  the  success  that  seemed  to  attend 
a  certain  preacher  in  his  revival  meetings.  He  had 
told  me  that  if  he  should  seriously  undertake  to  study 
continuously  for  the  space  of  half  an  hour,  he  believed 
it  would  drive  him  wild.  He  remarked  that  very  often 
he  selected  his  text  after  entering  the  pulpit.  "  Well," 
replied  the  friend  to  whom  I  was  speaking,  "  I  under- 
stand it.  I  was  once  appointed  to  preach,  during  a 
Conference,  to  the  negroes.  I  did  the  best  I  could, 
but  there  was  no  special  expression  of  interest  in  the 
congregation.  I  asked  this  brother,  who  was  sitting  in 
the  pulpit  with  me,  to  close  the  services.  He  rose  and 
read  a  hymn  in  his  ordinary  tone  of  voice.  Then,  lay- 
ing the  hymn-book  down,  all  at  once  he  clapped  his 
hands,  stamped  with  his  foot,  and  shouted  '  Halle- 
lujah ! '  Without  another  word,  instantly,  the  congre- 
gation was  kindled  into  a  very  flame  of  excitement." 
The  method  of  our  physically  fervid  brother  was  not 
essentially  different  from  that  of  certain  revivalists 
before  Anglo-Saxon  congregations.  It  was  only  some- 
what simpler  and  cruder. 

In  all  which  cases  the  physician  of  souls  is  exciting 
a  fever  in  whose  factitious  strength  the  patient  may 
rise  up  and  walk  a  little  way,  while  the  disease  itself 
remains  untouched  and  becomes  even  more  difficult 
to  cure. 

Religious  excitement  that  is  caused  by  the  reception 


834  VISION  AND  POWER 

of  truth  and  followed  by  a  Christian  life — or  by  a 
better  Christian  life,  as  the  case  may  be — is  to  be  wel- 
comed; and  no  other.  Any  excitement  that  claims 
to  have  worth  must  submit  itself  to  the  practical  test. 
What  is  its  value  for  life?  What  good  conduct  does 
it  produce  ?  It  is  the  Divine  test  under  which  we  must 
all  be  judged :  "  Who  will  render  to  every  man  accord- 
ing to  his  works." 

IV 

Let  us  linger  a  moment  longer  on  this  phase  of  our 
subject.  The  fact  that  individual  members  of  an  ex- 
cited crowd  will  do  what  no  one  of  them  would  have 
attempted  alone  is  familiar  enough.  It  accounts  for 
the  wild  excesses  of  the  mob.  But  essentially  the  same 
thing  is  true  under  great  waves  of  excitement  in  more 
intelligent  and  orderly  assemblages.  This  and  that 
person  will  promise  their  votes  or  money  or  lives  to  a 
cause  which,  on  the  subsidence  of  the  emotional  agi- 
tation, they  show  themselves  quite  unwilling  to  serve. 

It  would  be  hard  to  find  more  thoughtful  or  better 
ordered  meetings  of  young  people  than  those  of  the 
Student  Volunteer  Movement  of  our  day.  At  the  most 
recent  of  these  conventions,  as  on  previous  occasions, 
the  missionary  enthusiasm  was  widespread  and  intense, 
but  no  one  was  asked  to  enroll  himself  on  the  spot 
as  a  volunteer.  The  cause  of  world-wide  evangelism 
was  powerfully  presented ;  much  information  was  given ; 
much  persuasion  was  oifered ;  missionary  literature  was 
put  into  the  young  people's  hands ;  and  they  were  urged 
to  think  and  pray  and  yield  their  wills  wholly  to  the 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  335 

will  of  God,  and  after  due  consideration  to  decide,  each 
for  himself,  the  great  question  of  their  lifework.  This, 
because  their  leaders  had  learned  that  only  thus  could 
the  best  results  be  reached. 

Are  we  to  conclude,  then,  that  there  is  no  good 
in  the  unifying  thrill  of  religious  excitement  in  a  con- 
gregation, and  that  no  one  ought  to  act  under  its  in- 
fluence? Not  at  all.  That  would  be  too  much  like 
saying  that  one  ought  not  to  act  under  the  influence 
of  sympathy  and  imitation.  For  it  is  this  influence 
that  moves  a  person  to  do  as  those  about  him,  whether 
they  be  few  or  many,  are  doing;  and  in  either  case 
such  action  may  be  entirely  good  and  true. 

There  are  men  and  women,  for  example,  so  absorbed 
in  worldliness  or  so  blankly  indifferent  to  spiritual 
realities  that  the  contagion  of  religious  excitement  is 
needed  to  jostle  them  out  of  the  sense  of  security  in  sin, 
and  make  them  attentive,  for  a  little  while  at  least,  to 
some  word  of  truth  and  salvation.  Let  them  be  brought 
under  such  excitement.  It  is  well;  it  may  prove  to 
be  their  salvation. 

But  let  not  the  preacher,  in  his  craving  for  imme- 
diate and  visible  results,  refuse  to  discriminate  be- 
tween the  use  and  the  abuse  of  that  intensified  spirit 
of  sympathy  and  imitation  which  he  and  his  audience 
are  uniting  to  awaken. 


V 

Passing  now  from  this  phase  of  our  subject,  let  us 
take  note  of  certain  other  experiences  at  the  time  of 
conversion.     I  mean  those  which,  without  expressing 


336  VISION  AND  POWER 

themselves  in  any  marked  outward  demonstration,  do 
bear  witness  within  the  soul  itself  to  its  newness  of 
life  in  Christ.  There  is  a  spiritual  peace  and  joy. 
There  is  a  sense  of  nearness  to  God  and  of  rest  in  him. 
"  I  can  trust  him/'  says  the  soul ;  "  I  feel  that  he  hears 
my  prayer."  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  come.  "  The 
old  things  are  passed  away;  behold,  they  are  become 
new." 

As  we  have  already  noted,  the  convert's  face  may 
be  changed  with  his  change  of  heart.  ISTot  only  so ;  but 
the  scenes  of  the  outer  world  may  look  to  him  brighter 
and  more  beautiful  than  ever  before.  "  I  went  to  the 
door,"  said  a  plain  working-woman,  in  her  account  of 
such  an  experience,  "  thanking  God,  and  was  amazed 
at  the  changed  look  of  everything  around.  I  said, 
'  Where  have  my  eyes  been  that  I  never  saw  the  beauty 
of  it  before  ? '  " 

"  It  was  during  my  second  autumn  as  a  scarecrow  [a  small 
boy  employed  to  keep  crows  off  the  corn-fields],"  says  Alexander 
Irvine,  "  that  I  had  an  experience  that  changed  the  current  of 
my  life.  It  was  on  a  Monday,  and  during  the  entire  day  I 
kept  humming  over  and  over  two  lines  of  a  hymn  I  had  heard 
in  the  Sunday-school.  Nothing  ever  happened  to  me  that 
remains  quite  so  vividly  in  my  minu  ai  that  experience. 

"  I  was  sitting  on  the  fence  at  the  close  of  day,  a  very  happy 
day.  I  must  have  been  moved  by  the  colour  of  the  sky,  or  by 
the  emotion  produced  by  the  lines  of  the  hymn.  It  may  have  been 
both.  But  as  I  sat  on  the  fence  and  watched  the  sun  set  over  the 
trees,  an  emotion  swept  over  me  and  the  tears  began  to  flow. 
My  body  seemed  to  change  as  by  the  pouring  into  it  of  some 
strange,  life-giving  fluid.  I  wanted  to  shout,  to  scream  aloud; 
but  instantly  I  went  rapidly  over  the  hill  into  the  woods, 
dropped  on  my  knees,  and  began  to  pray. 

"  It  was  getting  dark,  but  the  woods  were  filled  with  light. 
Perhaps  it  was  the  light  of  my  vision  or  the  light  of  my  mind — I 
know  not.  But  when  I  came  back  into  the  open  I  felt  as  though 
I  were  walking  on  air.  .    .    . 

"  Many  a  night  I  had  been  kept  awake  by  the  gnawing  pangs 
of  hunger,  but  this  night  I  was  kept  awake  for  a  different  rea- 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  337 

son.  It  was  an  indescribable  ecstasy,  a  new-born  joy.  As  I 
lay  there  with  my  head  about  a  foot  from  the  thatched  roof, 
I  hummed  over  and  over  the  two  lines  of  the  hymn,  sometimes 
breaking  the  continuity  in  giving  way  to  tears.    .    .    . 

"  Everything  looked  beautiful.  The  world  was  full  of  joy.  I 
was  perfectly  sure  the  birds  were  sharing  it,  for  they  sang  that 
morning  as  I  had  never  heard  them  sing  before.  .   .   . 

"  As  I  passed  through  the  barnyard  I  came  in  contact  with 
some  of  the  men,  and  their  questions  led  me  to  believe  that 
some  of  the  experience  remained  on  my  face." — "  From  the  Bottom 
Up,"  pp.  11,  12. 

"  On  my  way  home  that  night,"  said  a  convert  in 
one  of  the  meetings  of  my  own  early  ministry,  "  the 
ledge  of  rocks  which  I  had  to  pass  seemed  all  aglow 
with  light."  That  surely  was  such  a  light  as  came  not 
from  the  sun  nor  from  the  moon  and  stars,  but  from 
the  soul. 

^or  is  it  a  surprising  story.  To  doubt  such  testi- 
mony would  show  but  scant  knowledge  of  the  human 
heart,  with  its  unceasing  witness  in  the  face  and  its 
vision  of  surrounding  objects.  Let  some  great  natural 
good,  the  greatest  that  can  be  imagined,  a  boon  that 
one  could  hardly  have  dared  hope  for,  come  suddenly 
into  one's  life.  Would  there  be  no  brightness  of  joy, 
both  in  his  face  for  others  to  see  and  in  the  whole  out- 
side world  for  his  own  eyes  to  look  upon?  Quite 
reasonably,  then,  may  we  believe  all  this  and  more 
besides  of  a  soul  that  has  come  to  know  for  the  first 
time  as  his  very  own  the  love  and  fatherhood  of  God 
in  Jesus  Christ.  "  Out  of  darkness  into  His  marvel- 
lous light."  *  It  is  as  if  it  might  be  a  partial  and 
personal  fulfilment  of  the  ancient  prophetic  word, 
"  There  shall  be  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth." 

*I  Peter  2:9. 


338  VISION  AND  POWER 

Now  sucli  an  emotional  uplift  has  a  distinct  and 
permanent  value.  It  is  good  to  rejoice  in  the  Lord 
always.  It  is  also  good,  in  a  special  sense,  to  have 
a  definitely  glad  and  assuring  experience  at  the  out- 
set of  one's  Christian  life.  It  is  something  to  look 
back  upon  all  along  the  journey  with  grateful  joy. 
On  every  remembrance  of  it  one  may  thank  God  and 
take  courage.  In  time  of  mental  perplexity  and  con- 
flict, of  multiplying  difficulties,  of  clouded  vision,  it 
is  well  to  be  able  to  recall  a  first  great  day  of  God 
and  to  say :  "  Then  was  I  full  of  gladness  in  the  light 
of  His  countenance."  Blessed  the  memory  of  such  a 
birthday  of  the  soul. 

Perhaps  no  more  remarkable  example  of  ecstatic 
experience  at  the  time  of  the  new  birth  has  ever  been 
recorded  than  that  of  Charles  G.  Finney.  A  young 
man,  alone  in  his  law  office,  he  had  been  earnestly  pray- 
ing day  after  day  for  personal  salvation.  Then,  in 
his  own  words: 

"  Without  any  expectation  of  it,  without  ever  having  the 
thought  in  my  mind  that  there  was  any  such  thing  for  me, 
without  any  recollection  that  I  had  ever  heard  the  thing  mentioned 
by  any  person  in  the  world,  the  Holy  Spirit  descended  upon  me 
in  a  manner  that  seemed  to  go  through  me,  body  and  soul.  I 
could  feel  the  impression,  like  a  wave  of  electricity,  going 
through  and  through  me.  Indeed,  it  seemed  to  come  in  waves 
and  waves  of  liquid  love;  for  I  could  not  express  it  in  any  other 
way.  It  seemed  like  the  very  breath  of  God.  I  can  recollect  dis- 
tinctly that  it  seemed  to  fan  me,  like  immense  wings.  No 
words  can  express  the  wonderful  love  tPaat  was  shed  abroad  in  my 
heart.  I  wept  aloud  with  joy  and  love.  ...  I  said,  '  Lord,  I 
can  bear  no  more.'  " — "  Autobiography,"  pp.  20-25. 

At  once  he  began  to  preach.  "  I  soon  sallied  forth 
from  the  office,"  he  says,  "  to  converse  with  those  whom 
I  should  meet  about  their  souls.     I  had  the  impression, 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  339 

which  has  never  left  my  mind,  that  God  wanted  me 
to  preach  the  gospel,  and  that  I  must  begin  imme- 
diately. I  somehow  seemed  to  know  it."  And  thus 
began  the  ministry  of  the  most  notable  revivalist  of 
the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Who  shall 
say  that  the  rapture  of  love  and  joy  which  marked  its 
beginning  was  not  an  element  of  permanent  power  in 
that  evangelistic  ministry? 

Needless  to  say,  such  an  ecstasy  is  exceeding  rare. 
Nor  is  there  anything  either  in  the  New  Testament  or 
in  the  course  of  Christian  experience,  from  the  begin- 
ning until  now,  to  excite  the  expectation  that  it  will 
ever  be  otherwise.  Indeed,  no  form  of  instantaneous 
and  exulting  assurance  is  one  of  the  ordinary  signs  of 
conversion. 

One  might  find  illustrative  analogies  in  other  spheres 
of  life  and  experience.  Here,  for  instance,  all  about  us, 
is  a  world  of  sentiment  and  imagination,  astir  with 
beautiful  and  inspiring  images,  ideals,  and  suggestions, 
to  which  the  poets — may  their  goodly  tribe  increase — 
would  fain  open  our  eyes.  Does  the  glory  of  that  vi- 
sion appear  so  distinctly  as  to  set  apart  the  first  occa- 
sion of  it  from  all  others,  before  and  after?  Some- 
times it  does.  I  have  heard  a  professor  of  English 
literature  tell  of  the  very  day  on  which  such  a  vision 
came  to  him,  of  the  particular  little  poem — Tenny- 
son's "  Ulysses  " — through  which  it  came,  of  the  col- 
lege campus  over  which  he  went  walking  and  repeat- 
ing aloud  the  magic  words.  He  spoke  of  it  as  a 
genuine  mental  rebirth.  But  that  great  teacher  was  far 
enough  from  telling  his  pupils  that,  unless  the  love 


340  VISION  AND  POWER 

of  poetry  should  come  to  them  in  just  the  same  man- 
ner, thej  never  could  be  sure  that  it  had  come  at  all. 
Let  the  appointed  teacher  of  Christianity  be  equally 
wise  and  true  in  his  teaching. 

Or,  take  the  case  of  some  particular  truth  of  reli- 
gion laying  hold  of  the  soul  with  all  its  hitherto  unfelt 
power,  as  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  Dr.  R.  W. 
Dale  tells  of  such  an  instance  in  his  own  life.  He 
had  been  a  preacher  and  teacher  of  Christ,  scholarly, 
deep-thinking,  thoroughly  in  earnest,  from  youth  to 
middle  age  or  beyond,  when  the  unprecedented  experi- 
ence came.  "  He  was  writing  an  Easter  sermon,  and 
when  half-way  through  the  thought  of  the  living  Christ 
broke  in  upon  him  as  it  had  never  done  before.  To 
use  his  own  words :  "  '  Christ  is  alive,'  I  said  to  my- 
self. '  Alive !  Can  that  really  be  true — fliving  as 
really  as  I  myself  am  ? '  I  got  up  and  walked  about 
repeating :  '  Christ  is  living !  Christ  is  living ! '  At 
first  it  seemed  strange  and  hardly  true,  but  at  last 
it  came  upon  me  as  a  burst  of  sudden  glory.  ...  It 
was  to  me  a  new  discovery.  I  thought  all  along  I  had 
believed  it;  but  not  until  that  moment  did  I  feel  sure 
of  it.  I  then  said :  '  My  people  shall  know  it ;  I  shall 
preach  about  it  again  and  again  until  they  believe 
it  as  I  do  now.'  "  *  So  he  did  preach  it  from  that  time 
on,  and  also,  under  the  inspiration  of  it,  wrote  his 
illuminative  book,  "  The  Living  Christ  and  the  Four 
Gospels." 

Is  this,  then,  the  typical  form  for  the  realization 

•"Biography  of  R.  W.  Dale  of  Birmingham."  By  his  son. 
Pp.  642-43. 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  341 

of  a  great  Christian  doctrine?  We  know  that  it  is 
not,  and  may  know  equally  well  that  it  is  not  the 
typical  form  for  the  realization  of  the  converting  grace 
of  God. 


VI 

It  should  also  be  noted  that  an  extraordinary  emo- 
tional experience  at  conversion  is  not  unattended  with 
its  own  peculiar  dangers.  One  of  these  is  the  danger 
of  resting  in  the  memory  of  a  past  spiritual  attainment. 
For  life  maintains  itself  only  in  ceaseless  movement. 
The  voice  of  a  living  and  healthful  soul  must  ever  be: 
"  Come,  let  us  sing  a  new  song  unto  the  Lord."  'No 
possible  nearness  to  God  ten"  years  or  ten  days  ago 
implies  the  same  nearness  now.  And  while  all  this 
may  be  readily  admitted  as  the  merest  commonplace 
of  Christian  teaching,  there  may  nevertheless  intrude 
and  linger  the  half-acknowledged  feeling  that  a  thrill- 
ing conversion,  at  some  designated  time  and  place  in 
the  past,  does  somehow  show  a  man  to  be  a  child  of 
God  here  and  now. 

There  is  also  the  danger  of  making  the  rapturous 
or  instantly  sun-bright  conversion  a  test  for  all  con- 
versions. This  would  be  to  confuse  the  occasional  with 
the  universal,  the  incidental  with  the  essential.  It 
would  be  to  accept  a  particular,  perhaps  a  denomi- 
national, tradition  as  a  substitute  for  the  teaching  of 
the  ISTew  Testament  and  the  enlightened  Christian  con- 
sciousness. Especially  in  the  teacher  of  religion  must 
it  prove  to  be  a  most  lamentable  error.     Theoretically 


342  VISION  AND  POWER 

wrong,  it  may  become  practically  worse  than  mis- 
chievous. 

Imagine  two  persons  who,  with  equal  genuineness 
of  repentance  and  faith,  set  out  side  by  side  in  the 
way  of  salvation.  One  rises  up  suddenly  into  a  joy- 
ous sense  of  spiritual  liberty  and  assurance.  He  will 
ever  after  remember  the  precious  occasion,  and  will 
testify :  "  Whatever  befall,  I  shall  always  believe  that 
then  and  there  the  love  of  God  was  shed  abroad  in 
my  heart."  The  other  has  no  such  day  of  days  to 
celebrate.  Through  the  coming  years,  in  the  same  com- 
munity and  congregation,  these  two  persons  live  the 
Christian  life.  Is  it  likely  that  their  most  spiritually 
minded  fellows,  the  best  interpreters  of  the  things  of 
the  Spirit,  will  find  the  former  of  the  two  showing 
stronger  evidences  of  the  truth  and  grace  of  God  in 
the  heart,  of  love  to  Christ,  of  sonship  to  the  Heavenly 
Father,  than  the  latter  ?  It  is  quite  as  likely  that  just 
the  opposite  will  be  the  fact. 

Let  us  enquire,  then,  what  it  is  that  makes  the  dif- 
ference in  these  two  types  of  conversion  ?  The  religious 
teaching  under  which  the  two  persons  were  brought 
up  may  have  something  to  do  with  it.  The  circum- 
stances attending  the  two  conversions  may  help  explain 
it.  The  expectation  or  non-expectation  of  a  distinct 
and  strongly  marked  emotional  crisis  at  conversion  may 
need  to  be  taken  into  the  account.  But  careful  ob- 
servation will  in  all  probability  show  the  chief  cause 
to  be  found  in  a  certain  innate  difference  in  the  two 
persons  themselves.  It  may  be  found  in  a  difference 
of  temperament. 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  343 

Such  a  conclusion  has  been  confirmed  by  the  spe- 
cific psychological  study  of  the  subject.     That  is  to 
say,  in  a  large  majority  of  the  cases  examined  those 
persons  who  at  conversion  passed  through  a  strongly 
marked  emotional  crisis  have  been  shown  to  be  per- 
sons in  whom  sensibility  was  predominant.     It  is  not 
meant,  of  course,  that  they  were  lacking  in  either  in- 
tellect or  will-power,  but  that  the  more  marked  char- 
acteristic   was     sensibility.       Temperamentally    they 
would  be  classed,  to  use  the  technical  terms,  as  either 
"  sanguine  "  or  "  melancholic  " — chiefly  as  included  in 
the  former  class.     In  brief,  a  soul  that  is  impression- 
able, impulsive,  confident,  hopeful   ("  sanguine  "—for 
example,  Simon  the  son  of  Jonas),  or  that  is  liable  to  be 
mastered  by  great  depth  of  feeling  ("  melancholic  " — 
for  example,  John  the  son  of  Zebedee),  in  his  experi- 
ence and  practice  of  the  natural  life,  will  be  likely  to 
have   his   experience   and   practice   of   religion   corre- 
spondingly affected  by  this  same  temperamental  emo- 
tiveness.     Indeed,  why  should  any  one  think  or  wish 
it  otherwise? 

"  The  ultimate  test  of  religious  values,"  as  Professor 
George  A.  Coe  has  happily  said,  "  is  nothing  psycho- 
logical, nothing  definable  in  terms  of  the  how  it  hap- 
pens, but  sometEing  ethical,  definable  only  in  terms  of 
the  what  is  attained  of  loving  trust  toward  God  and 
brotherly  kindness  toward  men." 

To  ascribe  an  exaggerated  significance,  therefore,  to 
the  emotional  test  of  conversion,  or  of  religious  experi- 
ence and  character  in  general,  must  work  only  con- 
fusion and  harm.    It  calls  away  the  attention  not  only 


344  VISION  AND  POWER 

from  reason,  but  also  from  conscience  and  will  and 
conduct.  Thus  emotion  itself  is  spoiled,  being  emptied 
of  its  true  meaning  and  content.  And  the  religion 
of  Jesus,  which  is  truly  thoughtful,  conscientious, 
strengthful,  practical,  emotional,  degenerates  into  an 
emotionalism. 

VII 

Now,  here  is  the  danger  of  opening  a  door  for  some 
of  God's  most  faithful  children  into  darkness  and 
misery.  Setting  up  the  emotional  standard,  we  declare 
to  those  who  have  been  disappointed  in  their  hope  of 
a  thrilling  conscious  transition  at  conversion  that,  no 
matter  what  else  they  may  have  experienced,  and  no 
matter  what  they  may  believe  or  become  or  do,  they 
cannot  be  so  well  assured  as  some  others  that  they  have 
been  truly  converted  to  God. 

Take  one  of  these,  for  example,  as  representative 
of  very  many  others,  and  learn  his  inner  history.  He 
would  be  at  peace  with  God.  He  pours  out  the  de- 
sires of  his  heart  in  persevering  prayer.  Turning  away 
from  a  sinful  life,  he  is  willing,  so  far  as  consciousness 
testifies,  to  give  up  every  evil  temper  and  habit  and 
to  submit  himself  wholly  to  the  Divine  will.  He  trusts, 
he  reaches  forth  his  hand  to  the  Saviour's  cross.  And 
he  has  been  told  that,  these  conditions  complied  with, 
his  heart  will  forthwith  be  surcharged  with  a  heavenly 
joy  and  his  lips  made  vocal  with  the  Saviour's  praise. 
But  it  is  not  so:  there  is  no  result  which  he  can  con- 
scientiously describe  in  such  language. 

With  the  psalmist  he  could  say,  "  The  troubles  of 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  345 

my  heart  are  enlarged  " ;  but  he  does  not  say  it,  being 
constitutionally  reticent  and  silent  about  the  inner  life. 
He  goes  to  church,  however,  and  hears  the  preacher 
assert  from  the  pulpit,  "  A  man  must  know  by  the 
inward  voice  of  the  Spirit  that  he  is  a  child  of  God  " — 
and  straightway  asks  himself,  "  Have  I  indubitably 
heard  that  voice  ?  "  Turning  for  a  word  in  season 
to  the  poet-prophets  of  the  hymnal,  he  reads: 

"  No  tongue  can  express 
The  sweet  comfort  and  peace 
Of  a  soul  in  its  earliest  love" — 

and  bitterly  confesses,  "  It  is  not  mine."  Taking  up 
a  religious  newspaper,  he  sees  an  account  (as  I  chanced 
to  do  yesterday)  of  a  lovely  Christian  character  who, 
speaking  of  his  conversion  in  mature  manhood,  said, 
"  I  had  never  heard  the  birds  sing  before  " ;  but  to 
him  the  songs  of  the  birds  are  about  the  same  as  they 
have  ever  been.  He  reads  of  John  Henry  ISTewman's 
assertion  that  he  was  as  sure  of  having  been  con- 
verted on  a  certain  day  in  his  early  life  as  that  he  had 
"  hands  and  feet  " — and  feels  that  he  would  give  the 
world  for  a  certainty  like  that.  There  falls  into  his 
hands  Charles  H.  Spurgeon's  description,  as  given  in 
his  "  Autobiography,"  of  the  effect  of  converting  grace 
upon  his  emotions :  "  The  sun  hath  risen  every  morn- 
ing, but  on  that  eventful  morn  he  had  the  light  of  seven 
days.  As  the  days  of  heaven  upon  earth,  as  the  years 
of  immortality,  as  the  ages  of  glory,  as  the  bliss  of 
heaven,  so  were  the  hours  of  that  thrice  happy  day. 
Rapture  Divine  and  ecstasy  inexpressible  filled  my 
soul."     And  the  rapturous  words  are  not  wings  to  his 


346  VISION  AND  POWER 

soul,  but  a  weight  to  drag  him  down.  He  attends  a 
meeting  for  prayer  and  testimony,  and  hears  some 
brother  tell,  "  I  can  no  more  doubt  that  God  for  Christ's 
sake  forgave  my  sins  on  that  day  than  I  can  doubt  that 
I  asked  him  to  do  it " — and  the  unhealed  wound  is 
made  to  bleed  afresh. 

The  outcome  may  be  that  such  a  soul  will  be  led  ere 
long  into  a  truer  knowledge  of  Christian  experience, 
a  happier  obedience,  a  more  trustful  and  undoubting 
spirit  of  sonship  toward  his  God  and  Father.  Or,  he 
may  come  to  regard  his  case  as  for  some  inscrutable 
reason  hopeless,  unfitting  him  for  church  membership, 
and  so  may  depart  sorrowfully  from  "  the  Way."  Or 
again,  he  may  faithfully  pursue  the  path  of  consistent 
and  useful  Christian  conduct,  but  under  a  shadow  that 
is  never  wholly  lifted  from  his  life.  It  is  a  spiritual 
tragedy.  May  God  pity  so  mistaught  a  soul — and  his 
well-intentioned  teachers,  who  have  not  been  "  rightly 
dividing  the  word  of  truth." 

There  is  no  lack  of  actual  examples.  An  unusually 
interesting  one  is  that  of  the  beloved  Christian  giver 
and  worker,  John  S.  Huyler,  of  New  York  City,  as 
related  by  his  pastor,  Dr.  Charles  L.  Goodell.  When  a 
young  man  he  knelt  beside  his  mother  and  others  at  the 
chancel  of  her  church,  in  a  Watch  Night  service,  seek- 
ing the  forgiveness  of  sins.  "  He  had  expected,"  we 
are  told,  "  a  conversion  after  the  manner  of  St.  Paul's. 
But  it  did  not  come  that  way.  At  the  close  of  the 
service  he  felt  still  more  profoundly  that  he  had  reached 
the  turning-point  in  his  life,  and  prayed  that  he  might 
have  power  over  temptation,  and  that  God  would  lead 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  347 

him  to  a  clearer  understanding  of  his  will  concerning 
him.  ...  It  always  gave  him  delight  when  men  testi- 
fied with  definiteness  to  a  certain  place  and  a  certain 
hour,  and  celebrated  the  anniversary  of  that  kind  of 
religious  experience.  It  may  strengthen  some  other 
heart  to  know  that  he  often  experienced  times  of  reli- 
gious depression  when  he  would  say  to  me,  '  I  sometimes 
wonder  whether  I  have  been  really  converted.'  But 
the  mood  would  soon  pass,  and  he  would  speak  with 
great  assurance  of  the  mercy  of  God  which  had  been 
exercised  so  blessedly  in  his  behalf."  * 

If  among  the  millions  of  the  great  city  there  was 
a  man  whose  heart  seemed  to  overflow  with  love  to 
God  and  mankind,  all  who  knew  him  would  probably 
have  said,  "  Here  is  such  a  man."  It  was  his  joy 
to  do  good.  It  was  a  special  joy  to  help  bring  to 
Christ  some  hopeless  and  abandoned  soul;  for  he 
seemed  to  despair  of  nobody.  With  thought  and  sym- 
pathetic personal  attention,  and  with  gifts  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  dollars,  he  was  ever  ministering  to  the 
varied  forms  of  human  suffering  and  need.  And  yet 
because  at  the  turning-point  of  life  he  was  not  some- 
how lifted  into  an  ecstasy,  or,  after  the  manner  of 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  "  unable  to  see  for  the  glory  of  that 
light,"  the  doubt  would  persistently  recur,  "  I  wonder 
if  I  was  ever  really  converted." 

Thus  may  the  application  of  the  emotional  test  of 
the  Spirit's  power  in  the  soul  work  disheartenment 
to  those  who  fail  to  meet  its  requirements.  It  puts 
them  outside  a  certain  comparatively  small  select  circle 

*  "  Followers  of  the  Gleam,"  pp.  51,  52. 


848  VISION  AND  POWER 

which  they  feel,  however  delusively,  to  be  well-nigh 
necessary  and  yet  impossible  for  them  to  enter. 

May  I  give  another  example?  The  most  prominent 
man  in  a  certain  rather  isolated  community  was  con- 
verted in  a  sudden  whirl  of  excitement.  He  had  been 
very  worldly.  A  camp-meeting  was  in  progress  on  his 
land;  and  he  was  present,  not  attending  the  services, 
but  absorbed  in  secular  business.  Standing  one  even- 
ing inside  the  circle  of  tents,  his  ear  was  gained  by 
the  voice  of  a  young  preacher  fervently  exhorting  from 
the  stand.  "  Something  all  at  once  came  over  me  " — 
so  he  himself  told  me  the  occurrence — "  and  I  rushed 
into  the  congregation,  made  my  way  through  the  crowd 
to  the  '  altar,'  fell  backwards,  and  cried,  '  Almighty 
God,  have  mercy  upon  me ' ;  and  the  next  thing  I  knew 
I  was  rejoicing,  with  all  the  brethren  round  me,  and 
praising  God."  An  unpromising  sort  of  conversion, 
one  might  suppose;  yet,  I  think,  nobody  doubted  its 
genuineness.  Because  from  that  good  hour  the  man's 
life  was  changed.  The  habit  of  profanity,  for  exam- 
ple, which  had  grossly  marred  his  everyday  speech,  was 
broken  off  immediately.  I  remember  his  saying  that 
he  had  never  thereafter  felt  the  inclination  to  utter 
an  oath.  He  became  a  lover  of  good  people  and  of 
the  cause  of  God  and  showed  his  faith  by  his  works. 
There  was  too  much  newness  in  his  course  of  conduct 
for  it  not  to  have  come  from  newness  of  heart. 

But  the  story  I  started  to  tell  is  this.  In  that  same 
neighbourhood  was  a  down-hearted  man  who,  though 
seemingly  religious,  remained  persistently  out  of  the 
Church.     His  life  was  upright  and  pure,  he  regularly 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  349 

attended  the  church  services,  and  would  come  forward 
in  revivals  of  religion  as  a  penitent,  but  was  ever  under 
a  spiritual  cloud  and  would  make  no  confession  of  his 
faith  in  Christ.  I  talked  with  him  at  his  home.  He 
said,  "  I  want  to  be  converted  like  W.  G." — the  brother 
whose  extraordinary  conversion  I  just  now  related.  In 
the  course  of  the  conversation  I  asked :  ''  Suppose  you 
have  a  painful  sense  of  sinfulness  and  condemnation. 
You  come  to  God  and  pray  in  the  Saviour's  name  that 
your  sins  may  be  forgiven.  And  there  rises  in  your 
heart  a  sense  of  nearness  to  God;  the  condemnation 
is  gone  and  there  is  peace;  you  can  trust  him;  there 
is  an  assurance  that  he  accepts  you  and  hears  your 
prayer.  Would  not  that  satisfy  you  ?  "  His  answer 
was,  "  iNTo,  I  want  to  be  converted  like  W.  G."  He 
could  command  no  other.  And  such,  as  long  as  I  knew 
him,  was  the  answer  of  his  life  as  well  as  his  lips. 

An  extreme  case,  was  it?  Perhaps  so;  but  at  any 
rate  a  true  and  significant  one.  Significant,  because 
temperamentally  the  two  men  were  wholly  unlike.  The 
first  was  rapid  in  all  his  mental  processes,  vivacious, 
notably  emotional.  You  could  hardly  have  thought 
of  him  as  really  deliberating  on  any  subject.  All  was 
stir,  movement,  quickness  of  speech,  often  bustle  and 
noise;  and  unhappily,  though  a  man  of  kind  and  gen- 
erous spirit,  he  could  break  forth  into  violent  fits  of 
ill-temper.  The  other  was  quiet,  critical  of  himself, 
slow,  phlegmatic.  And  yet  the  test  of  a  satisfactory 
change  of  heart  which  he  had  been  led  to  adopt  in- 
cluded some  such  emotional  storm  as  that  of  his  an- 
tipodal brother. 


350  VISION  AND  POWER 

Much  more  suggestive  of  the  Master's  teaching  is 
the  ancient  prayer :  "  I  have  but  one  miracle  to  ask 
of  thee,  O  Lord ;  it  is  that  Thou  wilt  make  me  a  good 
man." 

Can  one  be  a  Christian,  then,  without  the  excita- 
tion of  feeling?  Impossible;  and  just  as  truly  one 
cannot  be  a  patriot  or  a  philanthropist  or  a  friend 
or  a  human  being  in  any  relation  of  life  without  it. 
But  what  are  the  feelings  that  are  indispensable  to 
Christian  experience  and  character  ?  They  must  be  not 
only  feelings  that  prompt  to  action — which  is  to  say, 
motives — but  such  motives  as  self-love,  sense  of  duty, 
love  to  others,  love  to  God.  'No  true  religion  without 
these;  and  they  cannot  be  too  deeply  stirred.  It  is  in 
and  through  these  that  there  arises  the  new  life,  the 
new  man.  Emotions — which  is  to  say,  feelings  that 
do  not  prompt  to  action — are  good  and  inevitable ;  mo- 
tives, essential.  Which  of  the  two  classes  of  feel- 
ings, the  emotions  or  the  motives,  are  directly  con- 
cerned with  obedience,  Jesus'  own  test  of  discipleship  ? 
It  is  assuredly  the  motives.  ''  If  a  man  love  me,  he 
will  keep  my  word."  And  of  like  import  is  the  word 
of  the  beloved  disciple :  "  He  that  saith,  I  know  Him, 
and  keepeth  not  his  commandments,  is  a  liar,  and  the 
truth  is  not  in  him." 

The  founder  of  a  mission  to  some  cannibal  tribe 
in  Central  Africa  makes  an  appeal — I  heard  one  yes- 
terday— for  missionary  volunteers.  "  It  is  a  needy 
and  a  promising  field,"  he  says,  "  but  attended  with 
peculiar  danger.  He  who  goes  there  may  be  called 
at   any  time   ta  lay   down  his  life-  under  the  blight 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  351 

of  tropical  disease  or  the  hand  of  savage  violence." 
Central  Africa,  cannibal  tribes,  tropical  disease — what 
does  it  mean?  It  is  an  appeal  to  the  heroic — to  that 
Christian  heroism  demanded  in  any  age  or  land  by 
witness-bearing  unto  death.  Would  you  ask  the  young 
Christian  who  responds  to  such  an  appeal — 

"  Take  my  life  and  let  it  be 
Consecrated,  Lord,  to  thee" — 

that  he  give  some  more  emotional  and  demonstrative 
proof  of  love  to  his  Lord? 

VIII 

That  which  is  chiefly  on  my  heart  in  these  observa- 
tions is  the  children  of  the  Church.  They  are  just 
beginning  to  think  and  reason  for  themselves.  They 
must  be  taught,  guided,  disciplined,  in  morals  and 
religion. 

"Send  to  Joppa,"  said  the  angel  in  the  vision  of 
Cornelius,  "  and  fetch  Simon,  whose  surname  is  Peter; 
who  shall  speak  unto  thee  words  whereby  thou  shalt 
be  saved  " — and  he  added,  "  thou  and  all  thy  house." 
Christianity,  as  in  its  earlier  form  under  the  Law 
and  the  Prophets,  was  to  be  a  family  religion.  The 
whole  household  were  to  share  in  the  same  grace  of 
salvation.  "  Suffer  the  little  children  and  forbid  them 
not  to  come  unto  me."  "  Children,  obey  your  parents 
in  the  Lord."  "  Provoke  not  your  children  to  wrath, 
but  nurture  them  in  the  chastening  and  admonition  of 
the  Lord." 

What,  then,  shall  be  our  directive  idea  of  the  new 


352  VISION  AND  POWER 

birth  and  the  Christian  life  in  childhood?  That  the 
child  is  regenerated  through  baptism  in  infancy,  and 
after  a  few  years,  with  no  other  preparation  than  in- 
struction in  the  catechism,  must  be  received  into  full 
membership  in  the  Church?  Surely  not.  Is  it,  then, 
that  the  child  cannot  be  regenerated  until  he  shall  have 
reached  the  period  of  a  certain  distinct  development 
of  reason  and  conscience — say,  from  ten  to  fourteen 
years  of  age — and  that  he  must  at  this  time  experience 
a  sharp  spiritual  crisis  which  he  shall  recognize  as 
the  new  birth  of  the  soul?  Just  as  little  have  we 
thus  learned  Christ. 

It  would  seem  to  be  often  forgot  that  the  child, 
personality  in  the  bud,  man  in  the  making,  has  a 
moral  and  religious  nature,  as  well  as  a  rational  or 
a  social.  At  the  outset,  it  is  true,  his  rational  or  social 
nature  is  simply  a  capacity.  He  is  not  actually  ra- 
tional or  social,  but  impulsive,  self-seeking,  governed 
by  instinct,  bent  upon  the  gratification  of  the  senses 
and  the  imagination.  Ere  long,  however,  under  right 
nurture,  both  reason  and  sociality  will  appear  in  action. 
Similarly,  at  the  outset,  the  child's  moral  and  religious 
nature  is  simply  a  capacity.  He  is  not  actually  moral 
or  religious.  But  ere  long,  under  right  nurture,  he  may 
become  so.  How  ?  By  the  saving  grace  of  the  Father 
who  is  in  heaven;  by  the  power  of  his  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  heart.  May  the  little  child,  then,  be  verily 
born  again?  He  may  be,  not  ten  years  nor  one  year 
hence,  but  now.  To  mature  years,  to  adolescence,  to 
childhood,  the  word  is  the  same :  "  Behold,  now  is  the 
day  of  salvation." 


CERTAIN  SIGNS  OF  POWER  353 

But  the  Christian  soul,  yielding  thus  from  his  earli- 
est years  to  the  light  and  life  of  the  indwelling  Spirit, 
is  not  in  the  least  likely  to  recognize  some  one  ex- 
perience, standing  apart  from  all  others,  as  the  crisis 
and  consciousness  of  conversion.  Shall  his  brethren, 
therefore,  express  or  entertain  a  doubt  as  to  such  a 
man's  personal  salvation?  It  is  said  that  the  Moravi- 
ans had  misgivings  of  this  sort  concerning  their  great 
friend.  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  resuscitator  of  their 
Ancient  Church,  because  he  insisted  that  he  could 
not  recollect  a  time — oh,  blessed  inability — when  he  did 
not  love  the  Saviour.  True,  his  whole  life  was  in 
evidence  of  the  truth  of  his  own  oft-quoted  words: 
"  I  have  one  passion  only ;  it  is  He,  it  is  He."  Yet, 
inasmuch  as  he  could  not  recall  the  day  on  which,  in 
early  childhood,  the  love  of  the  Saviour  entered  his 
heart,  his  Moravian  brethren  seemed  troubled  with 
doubts  as  to  whether  it  was  there  at  all.  But  we  have 
no  need  to  follow  them  into  such  cruel  darkness. 

Or,  shall  the  lifelong  Christian  have  similar  doubts 
concerning  himself?  Richard  Baxter  was  at  one  time 
troubled  with  such  questionings  until  he  saw  that  edu- 
cation, as  well  as  preaching,  is  a  means  of  grace — "  and 
that  it  was  the  great  mercy  of  God  to  begin  with  me  so 
soon,  and  to  prevent  such  sins  as  might  have  been  my 
shame  and  sorrow  while  I  lived." 

Education  a  means  of  grace  ?  How  can  any  one  re- 
gard it  otherwise,  if  it  be  the  impartation  of  Scripture 
truth  ?  "  From  a  babe,"  wrote  Paul  to  Timothy,  "  thou 
hast  known  the  sacred  writings  which  are  able  to  make 
thee  wise  unto  salvation  through   faith  which   is   in 


364  VISION  AND  POWER 

Christ  Jesus."  Surely  here  was  a  means  of  grace, 
and  just  as  surely  without  a  pulpit  or  a  succession 
of  homiletic  discourses. 

Would  you  ask  the  Christian  child  at  what  par- 
ticular hour  and  place  he  first  gave  his  heart  in  the 
response  of  obedient  love  to  the  Saviour?  Why  not 
ask  a  similar  question  as  to  his  first  distinct  experi- 
ence of  love  and  obedience  to  his  mother,  or  his  first 
distinct  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  or  his  first  serious 
thought  of  God?  That  a  childlike  child  should  name 
a  particular  time  and  place  in  response  to  any  such 
questioning  is  possible — and  extremely  improbable. 
"  From  a  babe  thou  hast  known." 

!N"or  is  it  meant  hereby,  as  already  suggested,  that 
a  child  simply  grows  or  is  educated  into  religion.  It 
is  meant  that  he  is  as  truly  born  of  the  word  and  the 
Spirit  of  God  as  any  Christian  convert  of  twenty  or 
fifty  years  of  age. 

I  have  said  that  it  is  well  to  be  able  to  look  back 
upon  one  great  day  of  God  in  which  the  soul  for  the 
first  time  was  made  distinctly  glad  in  the  light  of  his 
love.  I  say  it  again,  but  would  add  with  equal  em- 
phasis, that  it  is  better  to  receive  the  dawning  light 
of  God  upon  the  soul  in  childhood  and  to  have  it  shine 
continually  brighter  through  youth  and  old  age  unto 
the  glory  yet  to  be  revealed.  This,  not  the  other, 
is  the  Christian  ideal. 


XVI 
THE  WAY  OF  POWER 

Peter  went  up  upon  the  housetop  to  pray,  about  the 
sixth  hoar. — Acts  10:  9. 

The  Spirit  said  unto  him,  Behold,  three  men  seek  thee. 
But  arise  and  get  thee  down,  and  go  with  them,  noth- 
ing doubting;  for  I  have  sent  them. — Acts  10:  19,  20. 

And  on  the  morrow  he  arose  and  went  forth  with 
them,  and  certain  of  the  brethren  from  Joppa  accom- 
panied him.  And  on  the  morrow  they  entered  into 
Csesarea.— Acts  10:23,  24. 

Who  was  I,  that  I  could  withstand  God?— Acts  11 :  17. 

IT  is  expected  of  the  Christian  minister  that  he 
shall  be  reputable,  well-informed,  and  religious. 
The  ecclesiastic  name  of  "  clergyman  "  by  which 
he  is  sometimes  called  conveys  an  idea  of  professional 
dignity  and  social  respectability;  and  a  certain  routine 
of  duty  is  required  of  him,  especially  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week.  But  if  he  have  taken  the  New  Testa- 
ment to  heart,  he  will  be  quite  unable  to  find  his 
true  life  in  any  or  all  of  these  things.  They  do  not 
satisfy  his  conscience.  He  would  follow  a  vocation 
rather  than  a  profession;  he  would  be  named  by  the 
Kew  Testament  name  of  minister  or  pastor  or  preacher 
rather  than  by  any  ecclesiastic  title ;  and  above  all,  in 
his  speech  and  his  preaching  he  would  have  the  voice 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  to  be  heard  always. 

A  Christian  gentleman,  never  a  clown,  in  spirit  and 
conduct,   he  would   be   much   more  than   that.      ^'  A 

355 


356  VISION  AND  POWER 

prophet  mighty  in  deed  and  word  before  God  and  all 
the  people  " — that  is  his  ideal.  ]S[o  professional  pro- 
priety or  ambition,  but  a  passionate  love  for  the  cause 
of  Christ,  for  the  souls  of  men,  for  the  rule  of  right- 
eousness, must  dominate  the  order  of  his  life.  Such 
a  confession  as  that  of  Paul  to  the  Ephesian  elders — 
"  I  hold  not  my  life  of  any  account,  as  dear  unto 
myself,  so  that  I  may  accomplish  my  course  and  the 
ministry  which  I  received  from  the  Lord  Jesus,  to 
testify  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  " — falls  upon 
his  ear  not  as  a  far-away  sound  of  some  foreign  tongue, 
but  as  the  real  voice  of  a  kindred  soul.  Consciously 
unworthy  of  this  high  companionship,  he  is  nevertheless 
a  brother  to  that  master  spirit  in  the  Church  of  God. 
"  I  will  die  on  the  streets,"  said  a  daring  and  devoted 
pastor-evangelist  of  the  present  generation,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  a  peculiarly  difficult  pastorate,  "  I  will  die 
on  the  streets  before  there  shall  be  a  failure  of  that 
great  work  in  New  York  City."  They  were  impas- 
sioned, but  not  idle  or  boastful,  words.  "  The  work 
of  the  ministry,"  I  have  heard  a  marvellous  preacher 
declare,  "  is  not  work  at  all,  it  is  a  consuming  vital 
passion." 


IsTow  it  is  inevitable  to  ask  how  the  aspiration  of  such 
a  man's  heart  may  be  fulfilled. 

We  have  already  been  dwelling  upon  the  thought 
of  the  mediation  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  power  to  human 
souls  through  evangelic  truth  and  through  the  person- 
ality of  the  preacher.     But  just  what  are  the  condi- 


THE  WAY  OF  POWER  357 

tions  on  which  this  power  may  be  expected  to  attend 
the  preacher's  personality?  In  what  way  of  life  will 
it  be  realized?     That  is  our  present  thought. 

For  one  thing,  the  power  of  the  Spirit  will  as- 
suredly not  be  found  in  the  imitation  of  its  outward 
signs.  The  fact  that  it  expresses  itself  at  times  in 
loudness  of  voice  or  extraordinary  emotional  fervour 
does  not  mean  that  an  imitated  or  mechanically  adopted 
loudness  and  fervency  will  somehow  infuse  it  into  pul- 
pit speech.  The  fact  that  it  may  find  expression  at 
times  in  pathos  or  fluency  of  utterance  does  not  mean 
that  we  can  put  it  on  as  a  garment  by  affecting  such 
pathos  or  fluency.  The  fact  that  it  lifts  the  heart 
to  God  at  times  in  individual  and  outspoken  praise  does 
not  mean  that  to  utter  hallelujahs  with  the  idea  of 
stirring  the  hearts  of  the  congregation  into  spiritual 
excitement  will  avail  for  the  purpose. 

The  loudness,  or  fervour,  or  pathos,  or  fluency,  or 
hallelujah  is  at  best  not  a  source  but  a  sign;  and  unless 
it  ring  true  from  the  heart,  it  is  never  a  sign  of  spir- 
itual power.  Contrariwise,  it  shows  ignorance  or  mis- 
takenness  or  emotionalism,  or  even,  it  may  be,  hypoc- 
risy. Whether  in  the  pulpit  or  elsewhere,  an  imitated 
sign  is  not  witness-bearing,  but  acting  in  religion. 

Nor  will  this  crowning  gift  of  Jesus'  messengers  be 
found  as  an  accompaniment  of  positions  of  prominence 
or  authority  in  the  Church.  Sometimes  it  is  seen  in 
such  positions ;  sometimes  it  does  not  appear.  It  bears 
no  vital  relation  to  ecclesiastic  honours.  A  man  may 
be  richly  endued  with  it  in  the  comparative  obscurity 
of  his  early  ministry.     His  speech,  whatever  vigour 


358  VISION  AND  POWER 

of  thought  or  grace  of  language  it  may  lack,  is  attested 
by  the  signs  that  follow  as  the  very  power  of  God 
unto  salvation — apostolic  "  signs,  and  wonders,  and 
mighty  works."  Men  wonder  at  his  success  perhaps 
and  ask,  How  do  you  account  for  such  effects  ?  Called 
somewhat  later  to  fill  a  more  conspicuous  office,  he 
accepts  it  with  joy  and  trembling.  He  would  not  have 
dared  to  choose  it  for  himself.  And  the  power  with 
which  he  was  furnished  at  the  beginning  abides  in  the 
larger  field,  as  in  the  little  corner  where  his  glorious 
ministry  began.  It  abides,  and  is  given  more  abun- 
dantly. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  was  danger  of  losing  it. 
He  might  have  grown  weary  of  obscurity  and  fallen 
out  of  love  with  much  of  his  work.  He  might  have 
hugged  the  idea  of  "  laudable  ambition "  and  sought 
for  himself  the  higher  seat.  He  might  have  been 
perverted  by  the  illusions  of  a  self-centred  church  life. 
He  might  have  been  so  occupied  with  administrative 
affairs  as  to  be  removed  both  in  spirit  and  in  fact  from 
personal  contact  with  individual  souls,  and  thus  have 
suffered  spiritual  impoverishment.  He  might  have 
yielded  to  the  temptation  to  suppress  a  truth  which  he 
should  have  proclaimed,  or  to  use  official  position  for 
personal  or  partisan  ends.  He  is  not  now  living  in 
daily  communion  with  the  Source  of  power,  as  in  the 
earlier  and  happier  days.  And  the  result  is  inevitable: 
the  true  glory  no  longer  appears  in  his  ministry. 
The  soul-winning  and  soul-building  gift  is  gone; 
and  its  departure  may  cost  him  humiliation  and 
tears. 


THE  WAY  OF  POWER  359 

"He  thinks  of  the  days  when  first  with  fear 
And  faltering  lips  he  stood 
To  speak  in  the  sacred  place  the  Word 
To  the  waiting  multitude." 

There  are  no  "  faltering  lips  "  now.  He  stands  before 
the  people  confidently,  and  his  reputation  is  that  of 
an  able  preacher.  He  is  not  infrequently  said  to  have 
delivered  "  a  great  sermon."  But  is  it  only  a  roseate 
dream  that  many  a  time  there  thrilled  through  the 
cruder  sermon,  spoken  "  in  weakness  and  in  fear  and 
in  much  trembling,"  a  spirit  of  life  that  is  somehow 
lacking  in  his  more  conspicuous  pulpit  of  to-day? 
Alas,  it  is  no  idealizing  dream,  but  a  witnessing  fact; 
and  his  soul  may  well  be  cast  down  within  him. 

Or,  worse,  it  may  be  a  case  of  unconscious  spir- 
itual declension.  "  But  he  wist  not  that  the  Lord 
was  departed  from  him."  "  Yea,  gray  hairs  are  here 
and  there  upon  him,  and  he  knoweth  it  not." 

II 

Turning  now  to  the  more  positive  view,  it  may  be 
remarked  that,  vision  and  power  being  so  near  akin, 
we  are  prepared  to  find  the  conditions  of  their  at- 
tainment to  be  the  same.  One  cannot  say.  On  these 
terms  a  soul  may  receive  the  baptism  of  light,  and 
on  those  the  baptism  of  might.  On  the  contrary,  the 
way  of  vision  is  itself  the  way  of  power. 

Pentecost  is  the  incomparable  example.  The  Mas- 
ter had  said :  "  When  the  Comforter  is  come,  whom 
I  will  send  unto  you  from  the  Father,  even  the  Spirit 
of  truth,  which  proceedeth  from  the  Father,  he  shall 
bear  witness  of  me."     Accordingly,  fifty  days  there- 


360  VISION  AND  POWER 

after  the  disciples  were  shown  by  this  testifying  Spirit 
the  truth  of  their  Lord  as  never  before — which  was 
the  promised  enlargement  of  vision.  But  it  had  also 
been  promised :  "  Ye  shall  receive  power  when  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  come  upon  you."  So,  they  all  spake 
this  truth  of  Christ  "  as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utter- 
ance," and  the  same  day  there  were  added  to  their 
number  three  thousand  souls — behold,  the  promised 
investiture  of  power. 

The  power,  then,  followed  immediately  upon  the 
vision.  The  knowledge  littered  itself  in  Divinely  con- 
vincing and  persuasive  speech;  and  the  same  Spirit 
under  the  same  conditions  was  equally  the  giver  of 
the  one  and  the  other.  Both  light  and  heat,  both 
knowledge  and  its  communication,  both  a  revelation 
and  a  dynamic,  both  vision  and  power,  were  in  the 
Pentecostal  flame. 

So,  likewise,  here  in  Csesarea.  "  While  Peter  yet 
spake  these  words " — what  words  ?  The  truth  of 
Christ,  as  that  truth  was  shown  him  by  the  Spirit 
of  revelation  at  Pentecost,  and  again  in  the  vision  from 
the  housetop — while  he  was  speaking  "  these  words  the 
Holy  Spirit  fell  on  all  them  that  heard  the  word." 

And  now  the  positive  answer  as  to  the  condition  on 
which  this  great  twofold  charism  of  the  Spirit  of  truth 
and  power  may  be  realized  by  the  Christian  preacher 
— or  by  any  other  Christian  man  or  woman — may  be 
given  very  briefly.  The  condition  is,  the  spirit  of  filial 
love  and  service  to  the  Heavenly  Father.  To  live  a 
life  of  such  communion  with  God  is  increasingly  to 
learn  his  will,  to  see  the  things  of  his  kingdom,  to 


THE  WAY  OF  POWER  361 

do  his  work   in  the  world,   to   speak  his  word   with 
power  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit  and  in  much  assurance. 

The  spirit  of  filial  love  and  service  to  the  Heavenly 
Father — that  is  indeed  a  large  answer  to  our  ques- 
tion. It  may  be  broken  up  into  several;  for  it  con- 
tains all  the  gracious  qualities  that  enter  into  the 
making  of  a  child  of  God.  Recall  the  Scripture  forms 
of  expression  in  which  some  of  these  qualities  of  heart 
and  spirit  are  named  as  conditions  of  spiritual  illu- 
mination and  power.  Thus  we  may  ask,  Would  a 
man  have  the  vision  of  God  ?  and  the  answer  from  the 
lips  of  the  Master  himself  will  be,  that  it  is  given  to 
"  the  pure  in  heart."  *  Would  he  have  Divine  guid- 
ance in  the  conduct  of  life  ?  "  The  meek  will  He 
teach  his  way."  f  Would  he  make  alliance  with  In- 
finite Power  ?  "  All  things  are  possible  to  him  that 
believeth."  t  Would  he  have  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
which  is  "  not  in  word  but  in  power,"  as  his  pos- 
session? Let  him  be  "poor  in  spirit."  ||  Would  he 
have  his  darkness  scattered  and  his  diseases  healed  by 
the  abiding  presence  of  the  God  of  love  and  forgive- 
ness? He  must  renounce  all  unwillingness  to  for- 
give his  brother  who  has  trespassed  against  him.  For 
"  he  that  hateth  his  brother  is  in  the  darkness,  and 
walketh  in  the  darkness,  and  knoweth  not  whither 
he  goeth,  because  the  darkness  hath  blinded  his  eyes."  § 
Let  him  forgive  his  brother;  let  him  try  by  truth  and 
kindness  to  win  him  to  a  better  mind;  and  the  light 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  Divine  forgiveness  will  arise 

•  Matthew  5:8.  J  Mark  9 :  23. 

t  Psalms  25:9.  ||  Matt.  5:  3. 

§1  John  2:  11. 


362  VISION  AND  POWER 

in  his  own  heart — that  light  of  love  and  of  life.  "  For 
if  ye  forgive  men  their  trespasses,  your  heavenly 
Father  will  also  forgive  you."  *  "  If  we  love  one 
another,  God  abideth  in  us."  f  Would  he  have  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  heart  and  life,  from  the  Heav- 
enly Father  ?  Let  him  remember  Jesus'  "  how  much 
more  shall  your  heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  them  that  ask  him."  J  Would  he  know  the  word 
of  Jesus  in  personal  experience  as  the  veritable  word 
of  the  Father  ?  "  If  any  man  willeth  to  do  His  will, 
he  shall  know  of  the  teaching,  whether  it  is  of  God 
or  whether  I  speak  of  myself."  ||  Would  the  preacher 
know  the  joy  of  a  fruitful  ministry  ?  "  Stephen,  a 
man  full  of  faith  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit  .  .  .  full  of 
grace  and  power,  wrought  great  wonders  and  signs 
among  the  people."  § 

Here,  on  the  one  hand,  are  such  conditions  as  purity 
of  heart,  a  sense  of  personal  insujQSciency,  faith.  Chris- 
tian forgiveness  and  love,  prayer,  obedience;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  such  results  as  the  vision  of  God,  the 
Spirit's  guidance,  alliance  with  almighty  power,  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  within,  the  abiding  Divine  pres- 
ence, the  personal  assurance  of  the  truth,  a  ministry 
of  "  great  wonders  and  signs  among  the  people."  The 
conditions  any  soul  by  the  grace  of  God  may  comply 
with ;  the  results  are  beyond  all  human  appraisement. 

And  the  conditions  are  all  included  in  one — spiritual 
sonship  to  God ;  the  results  also  are  one — spiritual 
vision  and  power. 

*Matt.   6:  14.  J  Luke  11:  13. 

tl  John  4:  12.  ||  John   7:  17. 

§  Acts  6 :  5-8. 


THE  WAY  OF  POWER  363 


ni 

ITote  especially  two  of  these  conditions  as  illus- 
trated in  the  early  apostolic  example  immediately 
before  us.  One  is  prayer.  For  Peter  had  already 
learned  the  lesson  of  Pentecost :  "  These  all  with  one 
accord  continued  steadfastly  in  prayer,  with  the  women 
and  Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus  and  with  his  brethren." 
Praying  for  the  fulfilment  of  their  Lord's  promise? 
It  would  seem  so — asking  for  that  which  he  had  sim- 
ply bidden  them  wait  for.  He  had  said  that  they 
should  not  depart  from  Jerusalem,  but  should  "  wait 
for  the  promise  of  the  Father,"  the  baptism  of  the 
Spirit.  They  seem  to  have  known  enough  of  the  mind 
of  their  Master,  however,  to  have  been  assured  as  to 
what  manner  of  waiting  this  must  be.  They  might 
have  learned  it,  indeed,  from  one  of  the  goodly  com- 
pany of  prophetic  spirits  that  had  gone  before  them: 

"  I  toaited  patiently  for  the  Lord, 
And  he  inclined  unto  me  and  heard  my  cry." 

At  Pentecost  were  many  prayers,  social,  fraternal, 
uniting  as  the  prayer  of  one  man,  "  all  together  in  one 
place."  Peter's  prayer  at  Joppa,  on  the  contrary, 
was  a  coming  to  God  in  retirement — all-aloue  prayer. 
But  the  essential  matter,  whether  in  association  with 
others  or  by  one's  self,  is  to  wait  not  indolently,  but 
"  patiently  "  and  with  a  "  cry."  Both  the  patience  and 
the  cry  are  the  appeal  of  a  soul  in  earnest  at  the 
throne  of  grace. 


364.  VISION  AND  POWER 

Is  such  an  appeal  vain?  To  say  so  would  be  to  dis- 
miss the  whole  Christian  revelation  from  our  lives  as 
a  delusive  dream.  It  would  be  to  say  that  either  the 
Eternal  Mind  in  whom  we  have  our  being  does  not 
know  our  personal  thoughts,  needs,  and  questionings, 
or  that  there  can  be  no  living  contact  of  our  spirits 
with  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  would  be  to  say  that  the 
highest  finds  its  source  in  the  lowest,  that  the  beating 
heart  in  the  human  breast  came  into  existence  out  of 
the  impersonal  and  the  unloving — that  there  is  no 
answering  heart  of  life  and  love  in  him  that  made  it. 

No;  the  hindrances  to  prayer  need  never  be  sought 
in  a  self-absorbed  almighty  being  ensphered  beyond  the 
stars,  for  there  is  no  such  being.  The  difiiculty  is  on 
the  human  side,  not  on  the  Divine.  It  is  in  our  spir- 
itual ignorance,  our  poverty  of  trustfulness,  our  fee- 
bleness of  will,  our  lack  of  love.  It  is  not  in  the  Divine 
will  by  whose  ever-present  power  all  things  and  all 
persons  exist.  It  is  not  in  the  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

Accordingly,  as  we  saw  at  the  outset  of  our  studies, 
God  is  beforehand  with  us  in  our  prayer.  He  is  in- 
spiring it.  A  few  days  ago  I  heard  for  the  first  time 
the  dumb  speak  to  their  teacher.  They  could  not  hear 
her  voice,  nor  even  their  own.  But  they  had  learned 
to  read  the  motions  of  her  lips  and  by  corresponding 
motions  to  mould  their  own  breath  into  the  appro- 
priate audible  words.  They  spoke.  It  was  a  fine 
achievement,  and  the  listening  audience  applauded. 
But  the  greater  applause  was  due  not  to  the  pupils,  but 
to  the  teacher.     There  was  the  grace  and  the  good-will 


THE  WAY  OF  POWER  365 

— in  the  teacher.  There  was  the  splendid  human  love 
that  stooped  in  patient  wisdom  to  help  bear  the  burden 
of  the  disabled — in  the  teacher  and  the  institution 
which  she  represented. 

Similar  is  it  with  our  God  himself,  through  the 
inspiration  of  whose  good  Spirit  all  such  labour  of 
love  is  wrought.  He  makes  the  spiritually  dumb  to 
speak.  The  grace  and  good-will  are  in  him,  not  in 
them.  In  numberless  ways  he  wakens  the  sense  of 
their  need;  he  teaches  them  to  pray;  he  brings  them 
into  acquaintance  and  converse  with  himself.  And  is 
not  this  the  Divine  preparation  to  preach  ?  "  For 
neither,"  says  Augustine  in  his  "  Confessions,"  "  do  I 
utter  anything  right  unto  men  which  Thou  hast  not 
before  heard  from  me;  nor  dost  Thou  hear  any  such 
thing  from  me  which  Thou  hast  not  first  said  unto 
me." 

Frances  Ridley  Havergal,  to  whom  it  was  given 
to  touch  so  many  hearts  with  a  more  constraining 
sense  of  the  Redeemer's  love,  once  wrote  to  a  friend 
something  of  the  attitude  of  mind  in  which  her  hymns 
were  composed :  "  Writing  is  praying  with  me,"  she 
said,  "  for  I  never  seem  to  write  even  a  verse  by  my- 
self, and  feel  like  a  little  child  writing."  It  was  in- 
deed the  childlike,  which  is  the  receptive,  spirit.  Up- 
looking,  asking,  trusting,  receptive,  the  soul  becomes 
a  means  of  quickening  power,  through  song  or  sermon 
or  the  use  of  any  good  gift,  to  other  souls.  The  Chris- 
tian messenger  who  can  say  "  with  me  preaching  is 
praying"  will  be  heard  to  speak  the  word  of 
Christ  even  as  our  lamented  Christian  hymnist  wrote 


366  VISION  AND  POWER 

her  spiritual  songs,  in  the  Holy  Spirit  and  in 
power. 

Let  us  yield  ourselves  to  that  ever-near,  ever- 
brooding  Spirit  of  grace  and  supplications.  But  mar- 
vel not  if  the  yielding  itself  may  be  done  only  through 
some  mighty  effort  of  prayer.  For  to  yield  is  not 
merely  to  be  passive.  It  may  mean  the  breaking  down 
of  barriers.  It  may  mean  a  hard  fight  against  evil. 
Because  all  dominance  and  all  intrusion  of  the  lower 
self  must  be  renounced — all  wilfulness,  sensuality,  un- 
forgivingness,  self-indulgence,  vainglory.  To  yield  to 
the  Spirit  is  to  resist  evil. 

Has  this  been  done  already?  So  far,  very  good. 
Divinely  good;  yet  the  renunciation  needs  to  be  re- 
peated. The  returning  enemy  must  be  met  and  over- 
thrown. But  let  not  our  hearts  be  troubled  or  afraid, 
for  the  prayer  will  have  its  answer.  It  must  have 
its  answer;  because  it  is  the  alliance  of  our  human 
weakness  with  God's  own  almightiness.  "  What  will 
prayer  do  for  you  ?  "  asked  his  fellow-tribesmen  of  a 
Christian  convert.  "  All  that  God  can  do  for  you," 
was  the  well-instructed  reply. 

From  such  waiting  upon  God,  the  soul  will  arise 
peaceful  and  strong.  It  will  go  forth  clothed  with 
an  energy  not  its  own,  masterful  with  men  through 
the  strengthening  Christ  within.  "  And  He  hath  said 
unto  me.  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee ;  for  My  power 
is  made  perfect  in  [conscious  human]  weakness." 

It  also  needs  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  pre- 
vailing prayer  is  the  voice  of  an  obedient  heart.  It 
is  vitally  related  to  a  willingness  to  do  the  will  of 


THE  WAY  OF  POWER  367 

God.  We  think  of  the  spirit  of  prayer  as  a  spirit 
of  desire,  aspiration,  docility,  faith,  unworldliness,  per- 
severance; and  so  it  is.  But  it  is  also  a  spirit  of 
obedience. 

"  I  came  to  this  meeting,"  says  some  faint-hearted 
Christian,  "  with  no  other  purpose  than  to  get  a  bless- 
ing." But  if  the  blessing  sought  be  distinctly,  as  seems 
often  the  case,  some  excitement  of  the  emotional  na- 
ture, there  is  a  more  Christian  purpose  and  prayer. 
"  To  get  a  blessing  ?  "  Then,  why  not  ask  for  strength 
of  soul  in  the  path  of  duty?  Why  not  ask  for  the 
grace  of  righteousness?  Why  not  ask  for  some  work 
to  do  for  the  Master  and  a  spirit  of  service  in  which 
to  do  it?  That  would  be  a  most  Christian  prayer, 
and  its  answer  would  be  a  "  blessing  "  indeed. 

Such  was  the  prayer  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  in  his  first 
vision  of  Jesus :  "  What  shall  I  do.  Lord  ?  "  It  was 
that  he  might  have  knowledge  not  of  what  the  Lord 
would  do  for  him,  but  of  what  he  himself  should 
do.  May  we  not  say  that  here  is  heard  the  very  prayer 
of  Saul's  lifetime  and  the  secret  of  his  power  in  the 
gospel  ?  Even  before  his  acknowledgment  of  Jesus  as 
the  Christ,  with  all  the  spiritual  illumination  and 
renewing  grace  which  this  conversion  brought  into 
his  life,  Saul  was  seeking  to  know  and  do  the  will 
of  the  God  of  his  fathers.  "  I  have  lived  before  God 
in  all  good  conscience  until  this  day."  "  I  verily 
thought  with  myself  that  I  ought  to  do  many  things 
contrary  to  the  name  of  Jesus  of  I^azareth."  And  now 
it  was  an  utterly  different  course  of  life  which  the 
word  of  the  Lord  Jesus  bade  him  follow.     It  meant 


368  VISION  AND  POWER 

sacrifice  and  service  unto  the  uttermost  for  the  cause 
which  hitherto  he  had  been  bent  upon  destroying.  It 
meant  unceasing  pioneer  labours  for  Christ  at  the 
cost  of  comfort,  esteem,  liberty,  and  life.  "  I  will 
send  thee  far  hence  unto  the  Gentiles."  Yet  this 
chosen  missionary  of  the  cross  faltered  not,  but  unto 
the  very  last  step  of  the  pathway  lived  out  his  first 
great  prayer.  "  I  was  not  disobedient  unto  the  heav- 
enly vision." 

IV 

So  we  are  ready  to  note  that  the  other  condition  is 
obedience.  And  here  again  appears  a  trait  of  Peter's 
natural  temperament  and  spiritual  character.  A  doer 
rather  than  a  drifter  or  a  dreamer,  capable  of  warm 
and  quick  devotion,  he  seems  to  have  been  prompt  to 
obey  the  voice  of  his  Lord.  "  Peter  went  down  to 
the  men."  "  And  on  the  morrow  he  arose  and  went 
with  them."  "  Who  was  I,  that  I  could  withstand 
God?" 

When  Jeremiah  was  bidden  to  go  forth  as  a  prophet 
to  proud  and  contemptuous  Israel,  he  tried  to  beg  off: 
"  Ah,  Lord  Jehovah,  behold,  I  know  not  how  to  speak ; 
for  I  am  a  child."  When  Jonah  was  sent  as  a  preacher 
of  repentance  and  forgiveness  to  a  Gentile  community, 
he  disobeyed  outright  and  went  otherwhere.  But  when 
this  out-and-out  Jewish  apostle  was  bidden  by  the 
Spirit  to  go  preach  to  a  Gentile  congregation  the  very 
gospel  that  he  had  hitherto  been  preaching  to  his  breth- 
ren of  Israel,  he  took  not  counsel  of  personal  prefer- 
ence or  prejudice  and  provincialism,  but  straightway 


THE  WAY  OF  POWER  369 

went.  At  the  same  town  of  Joppa  from  which  we 
have  seen  Jonah,  in  full  sail,  going  anywhere  rather 
than  across  the  land  toward  his  recent  appointment 
to  preach  at  Gentile  Nineveh,  this  son  of  a  later  Jonah 
took  the  highway  to  Gentile  Csesarea.  And  the  result? 
The  light  of  a  larger  knowledge  shone  into  his  soul — 
"  Of  a  truth  I  perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter  of 
persons,  but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  him  and 
worketh  righteousness  is  acceptable  to  him  " ;  and  the 
urgency  of  a  mightier  power  attended  his  speech,  for 
"  While  Peter  yet  spake  these  words,  the  Holy  Spirit 
fell  on  all  them  [Gentiles]  that  heard  the  word." 

But  what  was  true  of  the  journey  from  Joppa  to 
Caesarea  at  that  particular  time  is  true  of  all  time  and 
everywhere.  In  the  journey  of  life  the  way  of  obedi- 
ence— not  as  outward  conformity  or  in  selfish  fear, 
but  from  the  innermost  heart — is  the  way  of  vision 
and  of  power. 

There  is  a  world-wide  parable  of  this  truth  in  our 
relation  to  the  physical  forces.  For  physical  power 
will  yield  itself  to  our  needs  and  serve  us  untiringly 
on  condition  of  our  obeying  its  laws ;  and  on  no  other. 

Does  any  one  wish  to  be  endued  with  bodily  health 
and  strength?  Let  him  eat,  breathe,  sleep,  work,  rest, 
according  to  the  laws  of  God  in  his  body,  and  the 
wished-for  health  and  strength  comes  upon  him.  Or, 
being  diseased,  would  he  be  healed  ?  There  is  a  wide- 
spread fancy  that  this  may  be  done  by  magic.  But 
there  is  no  magic  in  medicine.  l!^either  the  ground 
tigers'  teeth  of  the  Chinese  doctor  nor  the  mysterious 
characters  of  the  Western  physician's  prescription  pos- 


370  VISION  AND  POWER 

sess  a  particle  of  healing  virtue — unless,  indeed,  it  be 
due  to  the  patient's  imagination.  From  the  days  of 
Hippocrates  till  now  no  physician  has  ever  cured  a 
disease  except  through  the  body's  own  vital  force; 
and  the  one  condition  on  which  this  power  of  life  will 
do  its  curative  work  is  that  the  body  be  brought,  either 
through  medicine  or  in  some  other  way,  into  obedience 
to  physiological  law.  "  I  never  said,"  remarks  Dr. 
O.  W.  Holmes,  "  I  will  cure,  or  can  cure,  or  would 
or  could  cure,  or  had  cured  any  disease."  Curo,  he 
reminds  us,  means  I  take  care  of — "  and  in  that  sense, 
if  you  mean  nothing  more,  it  is  properly  employed." 
As  a  catch-phrase  in  the  ward  of  a  hospital  has  tersely 
put  it,  "  Man  tends,  God  mends." 

Or,  does  any  one,  standing  with  closed  eyes,  wish 
to  have  a  picture  of  surrounding  objects  arise  in  his 
mind?  Let  him  lift  his  eyelids,  and  the  astounding 
marvel  of  vision  is  accomplished.  Does  he  wish  to 
read  after  dark?  There  is  at  hand  the  greatest  abun- 
dance of  potential  light-force  which  only  requires  per- 
haps that  he  touch  a  certain  button  in  the  room  and,  lo, 
the  light  lies  upon  the  page  of  his  book. 

It  has  become  a  trite  observation  that  the  world's 
work  in  our  modern  age  is  increasingly  done,  not  by 
human  muscle  nor  yet  by  brute  muscle,  but  by  the 
responsive  cooperant  forces  of  nature.  First  known, 
then  obeyed,  they  are  at  our  service.  Even  the  arm 
of  a  child  may  clothe  itself  with  their  power.  Every 
bodily  act,  indeed,  is  a  utilizing,  through  obedience, 
of  the  vast  stored-up  energies  of  nature;  and  there 
is  no  other  way  to  live  our  life  on  earth.     Nature  can- 


THE  WAY  OF  POWER  371 

not  be  "  conquered,"  as  Francis  Bacon  observed  long 
ago,  "  except  by  obedience." 

And  now  the  great  spiritual  forces  of  the  world, 
are  they  also  accessible  to  such  as  we?  More  than 
accessible,  they  are  in  God  himself,  who  is  "  the  In- 
finitely Near."  Our  relation  to  them  is  a  relation  to 
him — a  personal  relation  and  incalculably  more  vital 
than  any  other.  Every  moment  of  our  lives  is  spent 
under  the  immediate  touch  and  government  of  the 
moral  will  of  God,  which  is  the  law  of  the  kingdom  of 
the  spirit.  Here  is  the  law  which  is  voiced  by  con- 
science, and  which  is  supremely  set  forth  in  terms  of 
human  life  by  Jesus  the  Son  of  God.  To  disobey  it 
is  enfeeblement  and  death,  to  obey  is  spiritual  em- 
powering. In  God  himself  is  the  power — inexhaustible 
reserves  of  strength  instantly  available  to  every  obe- 
dient soul. 

Act  in  harmony  with  the  will  of  God  as  declared 
in  the  physical  world,  and  you  lay  hold  upon  illimitable 
physical  power.  Act  in  harmony  with  the  will  of  God 
as  declared  by  the  word  and  the  Spirit  of  Christ  in 
the  spiritual  world — for  in  both  these  realms  is  our 
life  lived  simultaneously — and  just  as  certainly  you 
lay  hold  upon  infinite  spiritual  power.  "  In  propor- 
tion," says  Campbell  Morgan,  "  as  we  are  careless 
of  the  laws  of  the  life  of  the  Spirit,  the  experience 
fades  and  the  power  recedes.  In  proportion  as  we 
obey,  the  experience  grows  and  the  power  increases." 
As  in  nature  so  in  grace,  harmony  is  life,  health, 
attainment. 


372  VISION  AND  POWER 


"  But  are  we  not  here,"  some  one  may  ask,  "  in  a 
kingdom  of  freedom  rather  than  of  law  ?  "  In  a  king- 
dom of  freedom,  assuredly,  but  why  should  it  be  added 
"  rather  than  of  law "  ?  The  idea  of  law  does  in- 
deed exclude  that  of  arbitrariness  or  caprice,  but  not 
that  of  moral  freedom.  It  is  so  in  the  case  of  human 
personalities,  and  how  much  more  of  the  Divine.  The 
Infinite  and  Eternal  Personality  is  alike  the  God  of 
all  grace  and  of  all  law  and  order,  of  all  rightness 
and  certainty  and  peace.  In  him  is  not  Yea  and  Nay, 
but  Yea  and  Amen,  evermore. 

This,  too,  is  a  truth  learned  in  the  school  of  Christ 
and  taught  with  both  tongue  and  pen  by  our  first 
Christian  preacher.  "  The  Holy  Spirit,"  we  hear  him 
saying,  as  he  stands  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Israel, 
"  whom  God  hath  given  to  them  that  obey  him."  *  To 
the  obedient  soul  the  Gift  of  all  gifts. 

And  to  his  fellow-Christians  Peter  writes :  "  Seeing 
ye  have  purified  your  souls  in  your  obedience  to  the 
truth  unto  unfeigned  love  of  the  brethren."  How  is 
this?  They  had  purified  their  souls — ^he  does  not  say 
from  what  but  unto  what.  He  leaves  it  to  be  under- 
stood that  the  purification  was  from  selfishness,  which 
is  the  core  of  sin;  and  it  was  unto  a  new  and  sincere 
love,  which  is  the  heart  of  all  spiritual  truth  and 
persuasive  power.  They  had  purified  their  souls  "  unto 
unfeigned  love   of  the  brethren " — without  which  to 

*Act3  5:32. 


THE  WAY  OF  POWER  373 

speak  even  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels 
would  be  ineffective.  And  this  most  illumined  and 
effective  life  of  love  was  realized  through  their  "  obe- 
dience to  the  truth."  * 

May  the  preacher  idle  away  his  time,  neglect  his 
duty,  indulge  his  love  of  ease — 

"  Do  as  all  men  ever  would, 
Own  no  man  master  but  their  mood  " — 

during  the  week,  and  then,  as  the  hour  for  preaching 
approaches,  reach  up  and  grasp  the  mantle  of  power 
through  some  emotional  exercise  or  paroxysm  of  peti- 
tional  prayer?  It  would  be  to  practise  a  pagan  super- 
stition rather  than  any  word  of  Jesus.  "  Give  me  also 
this  power,"  said  Simon  the  Sorcerer,  offering  money 
to  Simon  Peter,  "  that  on  whomsoever  I  lay  my  hands 
he  may  receive  the  Holy  Spirit."  We  have  learned 
that  this  "  gift  of  God  "  cannot  be  bought  with  money. 
Let  us  as  little  expect  to  get  it  through  any  other 
un-Divine  method.  It  will  not  suffer  itself  to  be 
brought  into  use,  like  the  Pharisee's  phylacteries,  to  be 
seen  of  men.  It  does  not  come  in  answer  to  the  call 
of  the  church  bells.  It  cannot  be  put  on  and  off  with 
clerical  vestments. 

Let  us  indeed  "  reach  up  and  grasp  the  mantle  of 
power,"  but  not  that  it  may  be  worn  an  hour  in  the 
morning  and  another  in  the  evening  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week.  It  must  be  for  all  day  long  and  for 
all  the  days  of  all  the  weeks. 

What  think  you  ?  When  we  are  bidden,  "  Put  ye  on 
{iv8v6aa'^&,  clothe  yourselves  with  as  a  garment)  the 

*  I  Peter  1 :  22. 


a74  VISION  AND  POWER 

Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  is  it  a  preaching-robe  that  the 
apostle  has  in  mind  ?  He  is  not  writing  to  preachers ; 
and,  if  he  were,  we  are  sure  that  he  would  not  be 
recommending  such  a  garment  for  the  pulpit  only.  It 
is  for  the  whole  of  life.  It  is  for  every  life.  There 
may  be  a  spiritually  minded  farmer,  sowing  his  seed 
and  gathering  his  harvests,  or  bearing  the  loss  of  them, 
with  a  genuine  Christian  motive ;  and,  alas,  there  may 
be  a  secular  preacher,  in  the  ministry  "  for  a  piece 
of  bread  "  or  delivering  his  sermons  as  a  performance 
to  be  applauded  rather  than  as  a  living  message  of  the 
Christ  within. 

But  for  any  soul  to  come  into  contact  with  Christ, 
to  have  the  mind  that  was  in  him,  to  reproduce  his 
life,  to  "  put  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  is  to  be 
clothed  with  all  possible  power  from  on  high.  And 
it  may  be  ours,  to  abide  upon  us,  in  Jesus'  way  only — 
through  the  daily  harmonizing  of  our  wills,  in  sacri- 
fice and  service,  with  the  will  of  the  Almighty 
Father. 

Very  marked,  therefore,  is  the  'New  Testament  em- 
phasis on  Christian  obedience.  Greater  is  its  revela- 
tion of  law,  as  well  as  of  faith  and  love,  than  is  that 
of  Moses  and  the  prophets.  All  through  its  successive 
pages  Jesus  is  called  Lord,  and  the  mind  which  was 
in  him  is  given  as  the  authoritative  rule  of  life.  "  God 
hath  made  him,"  said  Peter  at  Pentecost,  "  both  Lord 
and  Christ,  this  Jesus  whom  ye  crucified  " ;  and  again, 
"  Sanctify  in  your  hearts  Christ  as  Lord."  *  "  We 
preach  not  ourselves,"  says  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles, 

•I  Peter  3:15. 


THE  WAY  OF  POWER  375 

'^  we  preach  not  ourselves  [as  Lord]  but  Christ  Jesus 
as  Lord ;  "  and  again,  "  If  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy 
mouth  Jesus  as  Lord."  And  it  is  all  in  the  spirit  of 
the  Master's  own  teaching  of  his  sovereignty  of  the 
soul  and  the  universal  obligation  to  keep  his  command- 
ments. Was  not  a  part  of  the  charge  to  the  Eleven 
in  the  Great  Commission  itself,  "  Teaching  them 
to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  commanded 
you"? 

"  Whatsoever  I  commanded  you :  "  it  is  the  word 
for  a  great  imperative  whole  expressing  itself  in  many 
differing  yet  harmonious  precepts.  The  Master,  as  we 
often  truly  say,  laid  down  principles  rather  than  rules. 
And  as  to  principles,  he  saw  them  all  in  one,  in  the 
law  of  love  to  God  and  our  neighbour.  IN^evertheless, 
he  did  continually  particularize.  He  applied  the  great 
supreme  Law  to  this  and  that  matter  of  heart  and  con- 
duct :  "  whatsoever  I  commanded  you." 

Let  it  remind  us  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
obedience  in  general.  Obedience,  to  be  sure,  is  a 
spirit  rather  than  an  act ;  but  it  is  a  spirit,  not  a  mere 
idea,  and  as  such  has  no  way  to  express  itself  except 
in  particular  acts.  In  something  conspicuous,  epochal, 
decisive  of  one's  whole  subsequent  career?  In  that 
when  the  rare  occasion  arises,  but  ordinarily  in  the 
thousand  and  one  grandly  simple  cases  of  the  incon- 
spicuous everyday  life. 

VI 

It  is  early  morning,  and  the  Christian  disciple,  going 
forth  into  the  unknown  day,  says  to  himself :  "  By  the 


376  VISION  AND  POWER 

grace  of  God  I  will  this  day  do  whatever  the  Master 
bids."  An  impure  or  unkind  thought  drifts  into  his 
mind:  to  dally  with  the  intruder  would  be  to  disobey. 
He  is  tempted  to  lie,  in  order  to  avoid  adverse  criti- 
cism or  to  gain  some  pecuniary  advantage:  he  must 
tell  the  truth.  The  cruel  or  irreverent  word  rushes 
to  his  lips:  he  must  speak  kindly,  reverently,  l^ext 
door  is  some  one  in  want  or  sorrow,  or  in  sin:  he 
must  be  neighbour  to  him.  A  spirit  of  ease  and  self- 
indulgence  comes  upon  him:  he  must  shake  himself 
free  from  its  meshes  and  do  his  daily  task.  Be  it 
pleasant,  be  it  difficult,  be  it  a  joy,  be  it  painful,  he 
would  make  his  life  a  free-will  offering  of  obedience 
to  his  Lord. 

But  will  he  not  have  to  pray?  Aye,  let  any  one 
endeavour  thus,  not  in  creed  but  in  conduct,  to  "  call 
Jesus  Lord,"  and  he  will  find  that  he  cannot  do  it 
except  "  by  the  Holy  Spirit."  So  he  will  pray  indeed. 
He  will  ask  with  the  cry  of  the  heart  for  the  needful 
Divine  help.  And  the  result  of  the  successive  days  of 
such  prayerful  endeavour?  He  will  become  toward 
God  more  and  more  a  child  of  the  Spirit,  and  toward 
man  a  chosen  vessel  of  truth  and  power. 

"  If  therefore  thine  eye  be  single  " — not  if  we  have 
read  so  many  books,  or  asked  so  many  questions,  or 
listened  for  so  many  years  to  the  speech  of  the  wise, 
or  attained  to  so  much  familiarity  with  Christian  doc- 
trine— but  "  if  thine  eye  be  single  " — if  our  wills  be 
simply  intent  upon  doing  the  will  of  our  Father  in 
heaven^"  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light  " — thy 
whole  nature  shall  be   illumined  with  the  innermost 


THE  WAY  OF  POWER  377 

truth  of  righteousness.  "  The  simplest  woman,"  it  has 
been  said,  "  who  tries  not  to  judge  her  neighbour,  or 
not  to  be  anxious  for  the  morrow,  will  better  know 
what  is  best  to  know  than  the  best-read  bishop  with- 
out that  one  simple  outgoing  of  his  highest  nature  in 
the  effort  to  do  the  will  of  Him  who  thus  spoke."  It 
is  the  doer  of  Jesus'  commandments  who  becomes  a 
seer  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  There  is  a  story  of 
the  great  painter  and  engraver,  Rembrandt,  that  when 
a  pupil  of  his  was  prone  to  ask  about  many  things, 
he  said :  "  Try  to  put  well  in  practice  what  you  already 
know;  in  so  doing  you  will  in  due  time  discover  the 
hidden  things  which  you  now  enquire  about."  Simi- 
larly in  the  school  of  Christ  mere  asking  is  not  suffi- 
cient for  advancement  in  knowledge.  Voluntarily  to 
be  doing  what  we  are  bidden  is  to  learn,  to  see,  to 
know. 

Is  Jesus,  then,  the  one  Master?  He  is  such  because 
of  his  own  faultless  and  complete  obedience  to  the  Fa- 
ther's will — Master  of  man  because  Servant  of  God. 
"  That  signs  and  wonders  may  be  done  by  thy  holy 
Servant  Jesus,"  prayed  the  congregated  disciples  in 
Jerusalem. 

Even  from  childhood  it  was  his  word :  "  Knew  ye 
not  that  I  must  he  in  my  Father's  house  (Gr.  in  the 
things  of  my  Father)  ?  "  ISTot,  indeed,  that  Jesus  lived 
under  the  moral  law  as  an  external  restraint.  The 
law  was  within,  it  was  written  on  his  heart,  it  was 
of  his  own  choice  and  purpose  and  nature.  It  was 
the  law  of  the  spirit  of  filial  love  and  joy;  the  obedi- 


378  VISION  AND  POWER 

ence,  the  service  of  perfect  sonship.  And  the  same 
is  the  Christian  ideal. 

Here,  then,  is  the  secret  of  the  power  of  Jesus  him- 
self. It  is  his  absolute  oneness  with  the  will  of  God. 
"  For  God  was  with  him,"  said  Peter  at  Caesarea.  And 
has  not  he  himself  told  us  so  ?  "  He  that  sent  me 
is  with  me;  He  hath  not  left  me  alone."  Then,  also, 
he  tells  us  why.  "  For  I  do  always  the  things  that 
are  pleasing  to  him."  Nothing  less,  nothing  other,  is 
the  truth  of  the  cross  and  the  throne.  Becoming  obe- 
dient even  unto  "  the  death  of  the  cross,"  the  Son  of 
God  received  from  the  Father  the  Name  of  supreme 
sovereignty  and  power,  so  that  "  every  tongue  should 
confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord."  All  "  to  the  glory 
of  God  the  Father." 

From  the  Master  himself,  therefore,  may  the  disci- 
ple learn  that  obedience  to  the  word,  "  Take  up  thy 
cross  and  follow  me,"  is  the  path  which  leads  to  the 
throne  of  power. 


XVII 
THE  CONFESSION 

Then  answered  Peter,  Can  any  man  forbid  the  water, 
that  these  should  not  be  baptized,  who  have  received  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  well  as  we?  And  he  commanded  them 
to  be  baptized  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  Then 
prayed  they  him  to  tarry  certain  days. — Acts  10 :  47,  48. 

WITH  the  closing  incident  in  this  story  of 
early  apostolic  preaching,  our  study  shall 
also  find  an  end. 
While  the  witnesses  from  Joppa  were  amazed  at 
the  bestowal  of  spiritual  gifts  upon  a  Gentile  congre- 
gation, Peter,  not  content  with  the  indulgence  of  a 
mere  emotion,  saw  something  to  be  done.  The  unprece- 
dented event  suggested  to  him  the  proposal  of  an  equally 
unprecedented  religious  observance.  So,  characteris- 
tically, he  spoke  out  and  said :  "  Can  any  man  forbid 
the  water,  that  these  should  not  be  baptized  who  have 
received  the  Holy  Spirit  as  well  as  we  ?  "  Since  the 
reality  of  the  outpoured  Spirit  had  been  experienced, 
why  should  it  be  thought  sacrilegious  to  confer  its  sac- 
ramental sign?  And  he  commanded  it  to  be  done — 
at  the  hands,  we  may  believe,  of  the  six  witnessing 
brethren. 

I 

But  how  is  it  that  in  Christianity  there  should  ever 
have  been  such  a  command?  why  this  outward  ordi- 
nance of  baptism  in  the  religion  of  the  Spirit? 

379 


380  VISION  AND  POWER 

ISTearlj  three  hundred  years  ago  there  appeared  in 
England  a  notably  devout  unschooled  mystic,  with  a 
spoken  message  that  found  thousands  of  responsive 
hearers.  It  found  them  and  drew  them  together  in 
a  society  which  has  existed,  here  and  there,  unto  the 
present  time.  The  preacher  was  George  Fox,  the  first 
of  the  Friends,  and  the  message  was  that  of  the  en- 
lightening and  life-giving  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  human  heart. 

It  was  a  teaching  as  old,  in  fact,  as  the  ]N"ew  Testa- 
ment, but  it  came  to  many  with  the  force  of  a  fresh 
revelation  in  the  England  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
It  made  the  Divine  presence  a  conscious  reality. 
It  bade  every  man  realize  the  immediate  guidance  of 
the  Spirit  of  truth  in  his  own  heart  and  conscience. 
Walk  by  the  inner  light,  it  urged,  for  that  will  show 
the  way  of  salvation;  and  through  obedience  the  light 
increases,  while  through  refusal  to  obey,  it  is  dimmed 
and  darkened.  "  Christians,"  writes  the  chief  theo- 
logian of  Quakerism,  Robert  Barclay,  "  are  now  to  be 
led  inwardly  and  immediately  by  the  Spirit  of  Grod 
even  in  the  same  manner,  though  it  befall  not  many 
to  be  led  in  the  same  measure,  as  the  saints  of  old." 

Now,  it  was  a  great  truth  upon  which  the  early 
Friends  thus  laid  the  emphasis  of  their  religious  faith. 
But  just  here  was  their  lack,  to  wit,  in  the  withholding 
of  emphasis,  or  even  acceptance,  from  certain  other 
truths  of  the  human  soul  and  the  Christian  revela- 
tion. They  magnified  the  inward  work  of  grace,  but 
saw  too  little  worth  in  its  outward  means. 

Inasmuch,    for   example,    as   a  man  is   called    into 


THE  CONFESSION  381 

the  ministry  of  the  gospel  by  the  voice  of  the  Spirit 
in  his  own  heart,  and  must  speak  under  the  impulse 
of  the  Spirit,  they  would  have  no  instituted  pulpit 
or  pastorate  and  no  preparation  of  sermons  or  other 
addresses — as  if  the  Spirit  could  not  speak  to  men 
through  such  means.  Inasmuch  as  the  essence  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  is  spiritual  communion  with  Christ — 
"  I  will  come  in  to  him  and  will  sup  with  him  and 
he  with  me  " — they  would  have  no  memorial  bread 
and  wine.  Inasmuch  as  the  real  baptism  is  that  of 
the  Spirit,  they  would  have  no  baptism  with  water. 

They  declared  these  ordinances  to  have  been  in- 
tended only  for  the  special  circumstances  of  the  apos- 
tolic age,  and  pointed  to  the  baneful  superstitions  that 
soon  afterward  began  to  gather  about  them.  Any  pre- 
scribed form,  even  the  singing  of  a  hymn,  they  said, 
was  unsuited  to  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit.  Be- 
sides, they  were  prone  to  listen  for  the  voice  of  the 
Spirit  too  exclusively  in  the  feelings,  to  the  neglect 
of  judgment  and  reason. 

This  was  their  testimony:  what  were  its  fruits? 
Beautiful  characters  were  developed,  gentle  and  heroic 
lives  were  lived,  noble  philanthropic  work  was  done. 
But  in  the  effort  to  bear  witness  against  all  religious 
forms,  both  Christian  evangelism  and  spiritual  nur- 
ture were  greatly  embarrassed,  while  poor  and  in- 
effective forms  were  persistently  practised.  Thus  it 
came  to  pass  that  the  day  of  the  Friends'  missionary 
zeal  was  comparatively  brief;  and  the  day  of  their 
declining,  or  at  least  unprogressive,  activity  has  lin- 
gered until  now. 


382  VISION  AND  POWER 

While,  therefore,  on  the  one  hand,  we  may  learn 
from  the  life  and  labours  of  the  early  Friends  the 
vital  power  of  their  essential  message,  on  the  other 
hand  we  may  be  reminded,  by  their  subsequent  weak- 
ness as  a  Christian  society,  of  the  right  use  as  con- 
trasted with  both  the  depreciation  and  the  overuse 
of  the  outward  means  of  grace. 

Truly,  without  the  Spirit's  light  and  power,  our 
ministration  of  the  word  of  truth  will  be  in  vain. 
Truly,  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  the  Spirit.  Truly, 
he  of  whom  the  Father  said,  "  This  is  my  Son,  my 
chosen,  hear  ye  him,"  who  taught  much  and  brought 
religion  to  men  as  an  abundant  inner  life,  instituted 
very  little.  Nevertheless,  Jesus  would  adapt  his  min- 
istrations to  man  as  he  is.  His  gospel,  therefore,  is  not 
only  a  gift  to  the  religious  feelings,  to  common  sense, 
to  spiritual  intuition,  but  also,  as  Horace  Bushnell 
has  said,  "  a  gift  to  the  imagination."  He  used  many 
parables  and  object-lessons  in  illustration  of  the  truth. 
He  gathered  his  disciples  about  him  at  the  Last  Sup- 
per, and  said,  "  This  do  in  remembrance  of  me." 
Though  declaring  to  the  Apostles,  "  John  indeed  bap- 
tized with  water,  but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  not  many  days  hence,"  yet  he  gave  appro- 
bation to  that  water-baptism — had  he  not  even  sought 
it  for  himself? — and  bade  these  chosen  Apostles  bap- 
tize disciples  into  the  name  of  the  Triune  God. 

Man  is  distinctively  intellectual  and  religious  rather 
than  physical.  Yet  would  it  be  vain  that  any  man 
should  say,  "  I  am  intellectual,  and  therefore  in  no 
need  of  schools  or  libraries  or  laboratories  or  pen  and 


THE  CONFESSION  383 

ink " ;  and  equally  vain  would  it  be  for  any  man 
to  say,  "  I  am  religious,  and  therefore  in  no  need  of 
churches  or  Scriptures  or  any  outward  sign  of  inward 
and  spiritual  grace." 

Did  not  he  who  gave  us  the  inward  give  also  the 
outward  ?  Does  not  the  outward  furnish  means  of  dis- 
cipline and  development  for  the  soul,  and  of  intercom- 
munication between  soul  and  soul  ?  To  use  such  means 
is  not  to  abuse  them. 

The  New  Testament  is  not  the  Christ. 

"Beyond  the  sacred  page  ' 

I  seek  thee.  Lord, 
My  spirit  pants  for  thee, 
O  living  Word." 

But  this  !N'ew  Testament,  seen  with  the  eyes,  handled 
with  the  hands,  is  a  means  through  which  we  may  find 
the  Christ.  It  has  no  power  to  give  eternal  life,  but 
it  contains  "  the  witness,  that  God  gave  us  eternal 
life,  and  this  life  is  in  his  Son."  Similarly  with  the 
Christian  congregation  and  its  outward  ordinances.  To 
seek  spiritual  life  in  them  would  be  idolatry;  to  seek 
it  through  them  is  wisdom  and  truth. 

If,  therefore,  it  be  asked.  How  is  it  that  in  Chris- 
tianity, which  is  distinctively  the  religion  of  the  Spirit, 
there  need  be  any  such  ordinance  as  baptism?  it  may 
be  answered:  Because  the  world  of  human  souls  has 
not  yet  ceased  to  need  the  service  of  external  signs. 
Baptism  is  one  of  these  needful  signs.  It  is  a  sign  of 
the  renewal  of  the  heart  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  of 
the  renewed  heart's  allegiance  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
Hence  it  becomes  the  rite  of  initiation  into  the  Christian 


384  VISION  AND  POWER 

brotherhood  and  the  Divinely  prescribed  form  of  the 
confession  of  Christ  before  the  world. 

II 

This  baptism  in  Csesarea  was  the  more  significant 
because  of  the  day  and  the  circumstances  in  which 
it  occurred.  It  was  a  day  of  pentecostal  blessing. 
jWhile  the  Gentile  congregation,  with  ears  to  hear,  were 
gladly  receiving  from  an  eye-witness  and  apostle  of 
Jesus  Christ  the  Good  News  of  God,  the  Holy  Spirit 
fell  upon  them  with  power  and  filled  their  lips  with 
ecstatic  praise.  One  might  have  supposed  that  this, 
which  was  the  culmination,  would  also  prove  to  be 
the  close  of  the  meeting.  Let  the  little  company  dis- 
perse at  once  to  their  homes  or  to  whatever  customary 
duties  awaited  them — new  men  and  women  in  a  new 
world,  singing  the  new  praise  of  God.  But  it  was  not 
so.  The  apostle  would  have  them  first  make  a  dis- 
tinct confession  of  Christ  in  Christian  baptism.  He 
would  receive  these  "  strangers,"  at  whatever  risk  to 
their  outward  peace,  into  the  New  Israel,  in  which 
there  should  be  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile,  but  Christian 
believers  only.  Did  they  believe  on  Jesus  as  the  Christ  ? 
Let  them  declare  it  here  and  now  by  baptism  in  his 
name.  Let  them  declare  it,  whatever  the  consequences 
of  such  an  avowal. 

"  Upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church  " — ^upon 
the  rock  of  the  confessing  disciple.  And  of  such  is 
the  Master  Architect  building  it  still.  "  A  disciple  of 
Jesus  but  secretly " — how  could  and  how  can  such 
a  man  form  any  part  of  such  a  Church  ?    He  must  be- 


THE  CONFESSION  385 

come,  like  these  Caesarean  converts,  a  confessing  dis- 
ciple— like  them  and  their  preacher. 

For  one  thing,  baptism  as  confession  of  Christ  would 
commit  the  young  Christian,  in  the  sight  of  his  fellow- 
men,  to  the  new  "  Way " ;  and  the  reaction  of  self- 
committal  is  increase  of  strength.  Attach  a  badge 
to  your  person,  as  a  sign  of  membership  in  some  con- 
fraternity or  of  adherence  to  some  cause,  and  it  will 
tend,  like  the  soldier's  uniform  or  the  flag  under  which 
he  serves,  to  strengthen  those  personal  principles  and 
ideals  which  it  represents.  Similarly  baptism,  intro- 
ducing to  church  membership,  is  a  badge  which 
tends  to  strengthen  that  sense  of  Christian  dis- 
ci pleship  to  which,  at  the  same  time,  it  gives  expres- 
sion. Says  the  spirit  of  loyalty,  Be  true  to  your 
colours. 

!N^or  will  the  instructed  Christian  refuse  to  make 
confession  of  his  faith.  "  If  I  am  ever  converted,"  said 
a  man  in  the  course  of  a  conversation  we  were  having 
on  the  subject,  "  nobody  shall  know  it."  Ah,  my  friend, 
how  little  were  you  aware  of  what  you  were  speaking 
or  whereof  you  affirmed.  As  if  the  faith  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  were  a  treasure  to  be  hid  securely  away, 
like  some  valuable  certificate  in  a  safety-box — until, 
perchance,  it  might  be  needed  for  admission  into  the 
Celestial  City. 

Then,  too,  the  confession  of  Christ,  making  the  dis- 
ciple a  member  of  a  visible  and  organized  brother- 
hood, meets  the  social  need  of  his  nature  with  a  type 
of  friendship  peculiarly  its  own.  ""  As  I  have  loved 
you,  that  ye  also  love  one  another."     Peter  knew  the 


386  VISION  AND  POWER 

sweetness  and  worth  of  this  new-horn  love  and  helpful- 
ness in  Christ,  when  he  wrote :  "  Above  all  things  being 
fervent  in  your  love  among  yourselves,  for  love  cov- 
ereth  a  multitude  of  sins;  using  hospitality  one  to 
another  without  murmuring;  according  as  each  has 
received  a  gift,  ministering  it  among  yourselves,  as 
good  stewards  of  the  manifold  grace  of  God."  *  And 
it  was  into  this  new  visible  order  of  mutual  love  and 
service  that  the  Apostle  of  the  Jews  would  introduce 
his  newly  found  Gentile  friends. 

Ill 

"Not,  however,  that  Christian  confession  is  simply 
or  chiefly  a  self-regarding  act.  It  expresses  a  far 
greater  purpose  than  to  be  good  to  one's  self.  It  is 
for  others'  sake,  even  all  others'.  It  is  for  the  propa- 
gation of  the  gospel,  the  extension  of  the  Church,  the 
bringing  in  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

What  is  the  patriot  citizen's  motive  in  enlisting  for 
a  war  of  defence,  if  it  be  not  love,  even  love  at  the 
risk  of  life  itself,  to  his  country?  What  is  a  true- 
hearted  man's  motive  in  joining  any  society  of  civic 
or  moral  reform — a  temperance  league,  for  example — 
if  it  be  not  an  unselfish  concern  for  the  welfare  of 
others  ?  And  will  a  man  be  baptized  into  the  Church 
of  God,  our  Lord's  one  great  Missionary  Society,  the 
institutional  representative  of  the  kingdom  of  love, 
with  any  less  beneficent  a  motive? 

Here,  then,  is  not  a  command  of  some  blind  priest 
or  some  dogmatic  council  from  without,  but  a  law  of 

*I  Peter  4:8-11. 


THE  CONFESSION  387 

the  inner  life.  It  is  love,  complying  with  a  condition 
of  the  largest  service.  It  is  the  emancipated  soul  en- 
tering the  one  training-school  for  service  to  all  man- 
kind. It  is  the  impulse  of  a  heart  in  which  the  high- 
est life  has  begun  to  get  possession.  It  is  spiritual 
spontaneity. 

"  The  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of  herself ;  first  the 
blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  grain  in  the  ear." 
"  Bringeth  forth  fruit  of  herself;  "  it  is  of  her  very 
nature,  under  the  quickening  power  of  sunshine  and 
rain,  to  raise  up  the  implanted  seed  into  foliage  and 
fruit.  So  too,  spiritually.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  the 
human  heart,  under  the  quickening  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  to  raise  up  the  implanted  seed  of  God's  word 
into  all  the  progressive  fruitage  of  a  helpful  Christian 
life.  To  share  with  others  his  faith  and  hope  is  one 
of  the  first  desires  of  a  soul  born  from  above.  Hence 
he  must  confess  the  Christ  of  that  faith  and  hope  before 
men.  Perfectly  natural  to  the  new  creation  in  Christ 
was  the  request  which  the  converted  Ethiopian  offered 
out  of  his  own  heart  to  Philip  the  Evangelist :  "  What 
doth  hinder  me  to  be  baptized  ?  " 

IV 

True,  there  are  those  who  make  it  a  point  to  ap- 
plaud the  name  of  Christ — in  a  socialistic  meeting, 
for  example — and  at  the  same  time  to  pour  contempt 
upon  his  Church.  One  would  fain  ask  where  these, 
our  unsympathetic  brothers,  get  their  knowledge  of 
the  Name  which  they  profess  to  revere.  It  cannot  be 
from   the   New   Testament;    for   very   different   from 


388  VISION  AND  POWER 

theirs  in  such  a  matter  is  the  mind  of  Christ  as  there 
portrayed. 

We  may  be  told,  indeed,  that  it  was  an  ecclesiastic 
court  that  pronounced  Jesus  of  Nazareth  worthy  of 
death  and  had  him  sent  to  the  cross.  But  we  also 
remember  that  that  ecclesiastic  court  was  not  the  Con- 
gregation of  Israel.  The  Sanhedrin  was  not  the 
Church.  "  They  took  counsel  together  that  they  might 
take  Jesus  by  subtilty  and  kill  him.  But  they  said.  Not 
during  the  feast,  lest  a  tumult  arise  among  the  peo- 
ple." So  they  laid  hands  upon  him  by  night  for  a 
hurried  mock  trial  and  conviction,  to  avoid  opposition 
on  the  part  of  the  people — the  people  assembled  in 
Jerusalem  for  the  Passover  feast.  And  these  rather 
than  any  ecclesiastic  court  were  the  Congregation  of 
Israel,  the  Church  of  their  day. 

Moreover,  that  Church  was  indeed  greatly  lacking 
in  the  spirit  of  humanity  and  in  many  respects  sadly 
imperfect;  and  yet,  all  the  way  from  Bethlehem  to 
Calvary,  Jesus  was  included  in  its  membership.  He 
submitted  to  its  rites,*  attended  upon  its  ordinances,! 
spoke  no  word  against  its  institutions,^  drove  the  dese- 
craters  out  of  its  temple.  ||  To  accept  him  as  leader, 
therefore,  is  to  be  a  member,  a  lover,  and  a  reformer 
of  the  Church  of  God  in  our  lifetime,  as  he  was  in  the 
days  of  his  flesh. 

Por  here  it  stands,  "  the  house  of  God,  which  is  the 
Church  of  the  living  God,"  even  in  our  community 
this  day.     Imperfect?     Necessarily  imperfect,  if  you 

•Luke  2:21,  41-43.  :{:  Matt.  23 :  2. 

fLuke  22:15;   4:16.  ||  John  2:15. 


THE  CONFESSION  389 

or  I  be  included  in  its  membership.  Denomination- 
ally divided  ?  Even  so,  and  not  without  sectarian 
strife  and  vainglory.  Sin-stained  ?  Confessedly  very 
far  from  perfect  purity  and  righteousness — as  it  was 
in  Jesus'  day,  and  in  the  apostolic  age,  and  at  the 
Protestant  Reformation.  l!^evertheless  here  it  stands, 
in  the  forefront  of  the  world's  higher  life,  the  repre- 
sentative of  all  that  is  greatest  and  best. 

Think  of  its  spiritual  standards  and  ideals.  It 
testifies  continually  of  the  things  of  the  spirit.  It 
puts  the  IN'ew  Testament,  written  by  its  own  prophets 
and  teachers,  the  inspired  teaching  of  God's  self- 
revelation  in  Jesus,  into  the  hands  of  all  the  people,  that 
each  may  learn  for  himself  the  way  of  life.  It  pro- 
claims with  living  and  prophetic  voice  the  redemption 
that  is  in  the  Son  of  God,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins, 
according  to  the  riches  of  his  grace.  It  favours  and 
fosters  a  life  of  holy  love,  embodied  in  many  manifest 
examples  which  illustrate  the  Master's  own  word :  "  Lo, 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  within  (or,  in  the  midst  of) 
you."  It  leads  or  cooperates  in  undertakings  for  civic 
betterment  and  moral  reform,  and  receives  the  uncon- 
scious endorsement  of  being  instinctively  expected  to 
do  so  even  by  those  who  show  scant  sympathy  with 
its  spiritual  beliefs.  It  is  incomparably  the  greatest 
of  all  the  forces  on  earth  that  make  for  the  brother- 
hood of  man.  It  sends  forth  its  messengers,  anear 
and  afar,  to  teach  the  Christian  gospel,  with  all  that 
such  a  message  means  of  spiritual  salvation  and  its 
great  by-products  of  physical,  social,  and  political  wel- 
fare.    Which  mission  these  sons  and  daughters  of  the 


390  VISION  AND  POWER 

cross  are  cheerfully  fulfilling,  in  the  name  of  the  Son 
of  Man,  to-day. 

The  baptism  of  Cornelius  was  the  baptism  of  a 
Roman  and  a  soldier,  but  it  meant  a  call  to  a  higher 
type  of  heroism  than  that  of  arms,  and  the  same  is 
true  of  Christian  baptism  in  our  own  age — or  indeed 
in  any  other.  It  means  the  yielding  of  the  will  in 
obedience  to  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord.  And  this  means 
to  witness  for  him  against  worldliness  and  falsehood 
in  all  their  fashionable  forms,  against  unhallowed 
speech  and  fleshly  indulgence,  against  all  manner  of 
vice  and  greed;  to  make  no  compromise  with  moral 
evil,  however  plausible  its  plea  or  insinuating  its  de- 
fenders; and  not  to  count  our  life  dear  unto  our- 
selves, so  that  we  may  serve  his  cause  at  home  or 
abroad. 

Hence  it  is  the  heroic  to  which  the  appeal  of  the 
Church  must  ever  be  made.  "  Let  us  hear  what  kind 
of  persons  these  Christians  invite,"  said  Celsus,  a  Greek 
philosopher  of  the  second  century,  in  his  satirical  book 
against  the  Christians.  "  Every  one,  they  say,  who 
is  a  sinner,  who  is  devoid  of  understanding,  who  is 
a  child  .  .  .  him  will  the  kingdom  of  God  receive." 
So  they  did,  and  so  must  any  church  of  Christ  do,  in 
any  year  of  our  Lord.  But  out  of  the  ignorant  it  would 
fain  make  the  wise-hearted  and  out  of  the  slavish  the 
heroic.  Receiving  the  youngest,  the  feeblest,  the  most 
timid,  it  would  transform  them  into  men  and  women 
that  are  strong  and  of  an  excellent  spirit  and  unafraid. 
Por  the  warfare  into  which  they  are  called  is  that 
beside  which   all  the  strife  and   struggle  of  warring 


THE  CONFESSION  391 

nations,  present  or  historic,  pale  into  insignificance. 
It  is  the  true  world-war.  Its  antagonists  are  the  pow- 
ers of  spiritual  darkness  and  death.  Its  law  is  the 
cross.  Its  kingdom  of  peace  will  be  won  with  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God. 

What,  then,  is  the  brotherhood  denoted  by  Christian 
baptism?  ISTo  human  invention  or  ecclesiasticism,  no 
child  of  an  age  or  a  race,  it  sees  kingdoms  and  civili- 
zations flourish  and  decline,  but  lives  unshaken  through 
them  all,  a  mightier  beneficent  power  in  this  than 
in  any  preceding  century.  It  is  the  Congregation  of 
the  Eternal  Christ.  The  gates  of  Hades  have  not 
prevailed  against  it.  The  peoples  of  the  world  will 
gather  beneath  its  banners  and  crown  its  Lord  the 
Lord  of  all.  Oh,  the  honour  and  the  attendant  oppor- 
tunity of— standing  among  the  rulers  in  its  courts 
or  the  chief  ministers  at  its  altars?  Not  that;  but 
of  simple  admission  into  its  fellowship,  that  we  may 
have  some  share,  even  the  least,  in  its  glorious  war- 
fare and  work. 


Shall  we  think  of  the  Church  under  another  New 
Testament  figure?  Like  the  individual  Christian 
preacher,  though  in  a  larger  sense,  the  local  Chris- 
tian congregation  is  a  light-bearer,  which  is  to  say, 
a  truth-bearer.  "  The  seven  candlesticks  are  seven 
churches."  The  word  of  their  Apostle-pastor  to  the 
church  in  Philippi,  "among  whom  ye  are  seen  as 
lights  [shining  personalities]  in  the  world,"  is  equally 
true  individually  and  collectively.     This  light  of  truth 


392  VISION  AND  POWER 

shines  the  brighter  for  its  transmission  from  one 
to  another  within  the  congregation.  For  each  is 
to  give  of  his  own  sense  and  vision  of  truth  to  his 
brethren. 

And  not  the  least,  in  receiving  as  well  as  in  giving, 
in  learning  as  well  as  in  teaching,  will  be  the  appointed 
pastor  and  teacher  of  all.  His  prayer  for  himself  and 
his  people  alike  will  be  that  of  Paul  and  Timothy  for 
the  heresy-threatened  congregation  at  Colossse :  "  That 
ye  may  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  His  will  in 
all  spiritual  wisdom  and  understanding,"  "  increasing 
in  the  knowledge  of  God." 

All  this  for  one  another,  and  equally  for  still  others ; 
for  their  human  neighbours,  one  and  all.  "  Among 
whom  [the  outside  community  in  pagan  Philippi]  ye 
are  seen  as  lights  in  the  world/' 

But  again  as  in  the  case  of  the  individual  Christian 
preacher  so  with  the  congregation,  to  be  a  truth-bearer 
is  to  be  at  the  same  time  a  bearer  of  power.  It  must 
needs  be  so.  "  Lights  in  the  world,  holding  forth  the 
word  of  life."  In  the  faithful  congregation,  this  power 
of  spiritual  life  will,  through  mutual  sympathy  and 
service,  through  organization,  through  united  prayer, 
be  both  diffused  and  intensified. 

Whosoever  has  known  a  happy  and  spiritually  high- 
toned  Christian  home — fatherhood,  motherhood,  broth- 
erhood, sisterhood — will  testify  to  its  saving  influence 
upon  the  young  people  who  go  forth  from  it.  Many 
a  one  has  it  kept  from  childhood  in  the  ways  of  right- 
eousness, many  a  one  has  the  abiding  memory  of  it 
called  back  from  the  "  far  country."     Such  a  power 


THE  CONFESSION  393 

also  is  the  watch-care  and  companionship  of  the  house 
of  (Jod — fatherhood,  motherhood,  brotherhood,  sister- 
hood in  the  Spirit. 

A  church,  therefore,  in  its  true  idea,  is  a  union 
of  Divine  life-forces  through  the  touch  of  man  upon 
man.  "  Through  love  be  servants  one  to  another." 
"  Build  each  other  up,  even  as  also  ye  do."  "  Bear 
ye  one  another's  burdens,  and  so  fulfil  the  IsiW  of 
Christ."  "  We  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the 
brethren."  "  O  come,  let  us  worship  and  bow  down  " 
— together  let  us  come  to  the  Springs  of  strength. 
Your  desire  to  draw  near  to  God  will  quicken  mine. 
Your  prayer  will  remind  me  of  my  own  innermost 
needs.  Your  praisefulness  will  kindle  some  flame  of 
devotion  in  my  own  heart.  Through  association  there 
will  be  spiritual  reinforcement. 

Here,  too,  the  pulpit  is  the  beneficiary  of  the  pew. 
Few  indeed  must  be  the  congregations  that  are  with- 
out some  ministry  of  power  to  their  own  chief  min- 
ister. There  will  be  inspiring  hearers  to  help  him 
preach.  There  will  be  humble  and  unselfish  lives  to 
put  to  shame  his  vanity  and  self -worship.  There  will 
be  appreciation  shown  him  that  will  nerve  his  spirit 
to  more  faithful  service.  There  will  be  kindnesses 
done  him  that  will  purify  his  heart  with  the  awak- 
ened response  of  grateful  love.  There  will  be  shad- 
owed homes,  broken  family  circles,  couches  of  pain 
from  which  he  will  come  away  with  the  prayer :  "  Oh, 
that  I  may  have  grace  in  the  day  of  trial  thus  to 
suffer  and  be  strong." 

There  will  be  much  to  try  his  patience  and  much 


394.  VISION  AND  POWER 

to  threaten  his  ideals  and  many  a  burden  to  bear, 
which  things  may  prove  in  the  end  to  be  "  friendlier 
than  the  smiling  days." 

Freely  therefore  let  him  give,  even  as  he  has  freely 
received,  through  the  lives  of  his  fellow-disciples,  from 
the  Infinite  Love. 

"  Then  prayed  they  him  to  tarry  certain  days." 
Novices  in  the  Christian  life,  they  felt  the  need  of 
their  evangelist's  further  teaching  and  personal  in- 
fluence.   They  needed  him  as  friend  and  pastor. 

This  further  invitation,  be  sure,  was  not  despised  by 
such  an  evangelist.  Did  it  not  mean  another  opening 
door? 

On  the  shore  of  Lake  Gennesaret,  Jesus,  at  the  time 
of  his  calling  Simon  Peter  to  discipleship,  had  foretold 
for  him  a  ministry  of  evangelism :  "  Fear  not ;  hence- 
forth thou  shalt  catch  men."  On  the  same  lake  shore, 
Jesus,  having  finished  on  earth  the  work  which  the 
Father  had  given  him  to  do  and  passed  through  death 
into  the  glory  of  resurrection,  prescribed  for  this  same 
Apostle,  with  equal  distinctness,  a  ministry  of  pas- 
toral care :  "  Feed  my  lambs,"  "  Tend  my  sheep."  The 
same  two  forms  of  Christian  ministry  have  continued 
unto  this  day;  for  the  unsaved  world  is  still  every- 
where present  and  the  gathered  congregation  of  be- 
lievers is  ever  in  need  of  instruction,  encouragement, 
admonition,  upbuilding,  while  the  constraining  love 
of  Christ  abides  as  the  motive  of  this  twofold  minis- 
tration of  his  gospel.     Hence  the  evangelist-pastor. 


THE  CONFESSION  S»5 

All  the  while  there  is  the  larger  vision  and  the  multi- 
plying power.  For  the  Church  is  inter-congregational. 
It  is  a  spiritual  commonwealth.  Soul  answers  soul 
across  the  continents  and  the  seas.  The  word  of  life 
which  is  preached  and  lived  in  the  local  community  may 
be  borne  afar,  and  bear  abundant  fruit  even  where 
Christ  had  not  been  named.  Only  the  Eye  to  which 
nothing  is  hid  can  trace  its  course  or  reckon  its  contri- 
bution to  the  building  of  the  unseen  City  of  God. 


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It  makes  a  preacher  feel  like  preaching  once  more  on  this 
exhaustless  parable,  and  will  prove  helpful  to  all  young  people 
— and  older  ones,  too.  Dr.  Broughton  does  not  hesitate  to 
make  his  utterances  striking  and  entertaining  by  the  intro- 
duction of  numerous  appropriate  and  homely  stories  and  illus- 
trations.   He  reaches  the  heart." — Review  and  Expositor. 


ESSAYS  AND  STUDIES 


JOSEPH  FORT  NEWTON  Author  of  *' The  Eternal 

—^———^————^  Christ,"  "David  Swing" 

What  Have  the  Saints  to  Teach  Us? 

A  Message  from  the  Church  of  the  Past  to  the 
Church  of  To-day.     i2mo,  cloth,  net  50c. 

"Of  that  profounder  life  of  faith  and  prayer  and  vision 
which  issues  in  deeds  of  daring  excellence,  the  Pilgrims  of 
the  Mystic  Way  are  the  leaders  and  guides;  and  there  is 
much  in  our  time  which  invites  their  leadership." — Preface. 

JOHN  BALCOM  SHAW,   P.P. 

The  Angel  in  the  Sun 

Glimpses  of  the  Light  Eternal.    Cloth,  net  $1.00. 

Dr.  Shaw  has  prepared  a  series  of  spirited  addresses 
marked  throughout  by  sincerity  and  fine  feeling,  and  free 
of  all  philosophical  surmise,  or  theological  cavil.  "The  Angel 
In  The  Sun"  is  a  refreshing  and  enheartening  book;  the 
cheery  word  of  a  man  of  unswerving  faith  to  his  compan- 
ions by  the  way. 

PHILIP    MAURO 

Looking  for  the  Saviour 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  35c. ;   paper,  20c. 

The  first  part  of  this  little  volume  is  devoted  to  an  exami- 
nation of  the  chief  reasons  that  have  been  advanced  in  sup- 
port of  the  post-tribulation  view  of  the  Rapture  of  the  Saints. 
The  second  part  contains  some  affirmative  teaching  relating 
to  the  general  subject  of  the  Lord's  return. 

PROF.  LEE  R.  SCARBOROUGH 

Recruits  for  World  Conquers 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  75c. 

"Here  is  a  soul-stirring  message,  presenting  the  call  and  the 
need  and  the  response  we  should  make.  The  author  is  deeply 
spiritual,  wise,  earnest  and  conservative  in  presenting  his  ap- 
peal.— IVord  and  Way. 

PRINCIPAL  ALEXANPER   WHYTE,  P.  P. 

Thirteen  Appreciations 

i2mo,  cloth,  net  $1.50. 

Appreciations  of  Santa  Teresa,  Jacob  Boehme,  Bishop  An- 
drews, Samuel  Rutherford,  Thomas  Shepard,  Thomas  Good- 
win, Sir  Thomas  Browne,  William  Law,  James  Fraser  of 
Brea,  Bishop  Butler,  Cardinal  Newman,  William  Guthrie  and 
John  Wesley,  go  to  the  making  of  Dr.  Whyte's  new  book,  a 
work  of  high  authority,  revealing  on  every  page  the  man  who 
wrote  it. 


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